Non-Fiction in Public Libraries: with Reference to North Hampshire

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Non-Fiction in Public Libraries: with reference to North Hampshire

Catherine Mary Randewich

A dissertation submitted to Aberystwyth University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Magister in Scientia Economica (MSc) under Alternative Regulations

Department of Information Studies

Aberystwyth University

2016

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the current situation concerning non-fiction books in UK public libraries, the future of which is uncertain due to funding cuts. The aims are to discover who is borrowing non-fiction, which subjects, and why. Improvement of stock collection management policy on non-fiction acquisition is to be enabled. The following objectives are chosen to achieve these aims: the investigation of the breakdown of library users by demographics of age, gender, terminal education age and work status to place non-fiction usage in context, the analysis of library user behaviour such as frequency and purpose of visit for frame of reference, and the analysis of non-fiction buying and internet use, to determine if these activities impact on non- fiction borrowing. The methodology is mostly quantitative, comprising primary data collection from self- completed questionnaires and circulation information from the library management system in five case study public libraries in North Hampshire. Secondary data from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, and historical data on stock and issues from Hampshire Libraries and Information Service are also collected. Eighteen subject areas are chosen for longitudinal comparison with previous studies. Limitations of the research are that only adult non-fiction could be analysed rather than a combination of adult and children’s non-fiction. The data is analysed and manipulated using Microsoft Excel. The results show that the amount of non-fiction borrowing as a proportion of total borrowing is declining, although the proportion of people borrowing non-fiction is reducing more slowly. Whilst males are more likely to borrow non-fiction, the greater proportion of female library users overall means that more non-fiction is borrowed by females. Older people and people who use the internet to search for information are more likely to borrow non-fiction. Library users who borrow non-fiction also buy the same subjects.

DECLARATION

This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree.

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Date ......

STATEMENT 1

This work is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s).

Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended.

Signed ...... (candidate)

Date ......

STATEMENT 2

I hereby give consent for my work, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ...... ii Declaration ...... iii Table of Contents ...... iv List of Tables ...... viii List of Figures ...... xi Abbreviations ...... xiii Acknowledgements ...... xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Background ...... 1 1.2 Research Purpose ...... 1 1.3 Aims and Objectives ...... 1 1.4 Scope ...... 2 1.5 Dissertation Structure ...... 2 1.6 Referencing and Citation Style ...... 2 1.7 Conclusion ...... 2 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...... 3 2.1 Introduction ...... 3 2.2 Search Methods Employed...... 3 2.3 Results of the Search ...... 3 2.3.1 Official Bodies Data Collection ...... 4 2.3.2 Research Carried out by Individuals ...... 6 2.4 Common themes in Research on Non-Fiction in UK Public Libraries ...... 7 2.4.1 Demographics of Library Users ...... 8 2.4.2 Frequency of Library Use ...... 8 2.4.3 Purpose for Visiting Library ...... 8 2.4.4 Non-Fiction Borrowing as a Proportion of Total Borrowing ...... 8 2.4.5 Gender Differences in Non-Fiction Borrowing and by Genre ...... 9 2.4.6 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Age ...... 9 2.4.7 Non-Fiction Borrowing by TEA ...... 10 2.4.8 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Work Status ...... 10 2.4.9 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Social Class ...... 11 2.4.10 Reasons for Borrowing Non-Fiction and Subjects Borrowed ...... 11

2.4.11 Non-Fiction Book Buying versus Non-Fiction Book Borrowing ...... 11 2.4.12 Reasons for Overall Trends in Book Borrowing ...... 12 2.4.13 Opinions on Non-Fiction Provision ...... 13 2.5 Conclusion ...... 13 Chapter 3: Methodology ...... 14 3.1 Introduction ...... 14 3.2 The Case Study Libraries ...... 14 3.3 Data Collection Methods ...... 15 3.4 Analysis of Primary Data from Spydus ...... 15 3.5 Analysis of Primary Data from Self-Completed Questionnaires ...... 17 3.5.1 Design of Self-Completed Questionnaires ...... 18 3.5.2 Piloting the Questionnaire ...... 18 3.5.3 Administering the Questionnaire ...... 19 3.6 Statistical Analysis of Data from Spydus and the Questionnaire ...... 19 3.7 Analysis of Secondary Data from CIPFA Public Library Statistics ...... 20 3.8 Analysis of Secondary Data from Active Borrowers Research Analysis .... 20 3.9 Analysis of Secondary Data from Internal Reports for North Hampshire Libraries ...... 21 3.10 Limitations of the Chosen Methodology ...... 21 3.11 Ethical Considerations...... 22 3.11.1 Authority to Carry Out Research ...... 23 3.12 Conclusion ...... 23 Chapter 4: Data Results and Analysis ...... 24 4.1 Introduction ...... 24 4.2 Primary Data from Spydus: Circulation Data Trends ...... 24 4.3 Primary Data from Spydus: PEU ...... 32 4.4 Primary Data: Self-Completed Questionnaires ...... 33 4.4.1 Demographics of Library Users ...... 35 4.4.2 Frequency of Library Use ...... 36 4.4.3 Purpose for Visiting Library ...... 37 4.4.4 Non-Fiction Borrowing and as a Proportion of Total Borrowing ...... 38 4.4.5 Gender Differences in Non-Fiction Borrowing and by Genre ...... 39 4.4.6 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Age ...... 42 4.4.7 Non-Fiction Borrowing by TEA ...... 45

4.4.8 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Work Status ...... 47 4.4.9 Reasons for Borrowing Non-Fiction ...... 48 4.4.10 Ranking of Subjects Borrowed by Popularity ...... 49 4.4.11 Internet Use ...... 53 4.4.12 Non-Fiction Book Buying versus Non-Fiction Book Borrowing ...... 56 4.4.13 Opinions on Non-Fiction Provision ...... 59 4.5 Secondary Data from CIPFA Public Library Statistics ...... 59 4.6 Secondary Data from Active Borrowers Research Analysis ...... 60 4.7 Secondary Data from Internal Reports for North Hampshire Libraries ...... 60 4.8 Conclusion ...... 63 Chapter 5: Findings and Discussion ...... 64 5.1 Introduction ...... 64 5.2 Primary Data from Spydus: Circulation Data Trends ...... 64 5.3 Primary Data from Spydus: PEU ...... 65 5.4 Primary Data: Self-Completed Questionnaires ...... 66 5.4.1 Demographics of Library Users ...... 66 5.4.2 Frequency of Library Use ...... 66 5.4.3 Purpose for Visiting Library ...... 66 5.4.4 Non-Fiction Borrowing and as a Proportion of Total Borrowing ...... 67 5.4.5 Gender Differences in Non-Fiction Borrowing and by Genre ...... 67 5.4.6 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Age ...... 69 5.4.7 Non-Fiction Borrowing by TEA ...... 70 5.4.8 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Work Status ...... 70 5.4.9 Reasons for Borrowing Non-Fiction ...... 71 5.4.10 Ranking of Subjects Borrowed by Popularity ...... 71 5.4.11 Internet Use ...... 72 5.4.12 Non-Fiction Book Buying versus Non-Fiction Book Borrowing ...... 72 5.4.13 Opinions on Non-Fiction Provision ...... 73 5.5 Secondary Data from CIPFA Public Library Statistics ...... 73 5.6 Secondary Data from Active Borrowers Research Analysis ...... 74 5.7 Secondary Data from Internal Reports for North Hampshire Libraries ...... 74 5.8 Variations between the Case Study Libraries ...... 74 5.9 The Future for Non-Fiction Books in Public Libraries ...... 75 5.10 Conclusion ...... 75

Chapter 6: Conclusion ...... 76 6.1 Introduction ...... 76 6.2 Research Purpose, Aims and Objectives ...... 76 6.3 Literature Review ...... 76 6.4 Methodology ...... 77 6.5 Findings ...... 77 6.6 Suggestions for Further Research ...... 78 6.7 Conclusion ...... 78 Bibliography ...... 79 Appendix A: User Questionnaire ...... 83 Appendix B: Letter to Obtain Informed Consent ...... 86 Appendix C: Answers to Question 10 from the Questionnaire ...... 88 Appendix D: Mosaic Types ...... 90

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List of Tables

Table 3.1. Calculating the relative use of various classes. Table derived from Baker 1993 ...... 16

Table 3.2. Eighteen DDC areas for analysis ...... 17

Table 3.3. Table of sampling times in each library ...... 19

Table 4.1. Ranked subjects derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in all libraries in each year ...... 25

Table 4.2. Ranked subjects for Basingstoke derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year ...... 26

Table 4.3. Ranked subjects for Chineham derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year ...... 27

Table 4.4. Ranked subjects for Overton derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year ...... 28

Table 4.5. Ranked subjects for South Ham derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year ...... 29

Table 4.6. Ranked subjects for Tadley derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year ...... 30

Table 4.7. Percentage change of non-fiction issues by year in each library ...... 31

Table 4.8. Ranked PEU measure across all five libraries ...... 32

Table 4.9. Ranked PEU measure for each of the five libraries ...... 33

Table 4.10. Response rate of questionnaires ...... 34

Table 4.11. Male to female ratio of respondents for each library and overall ...... 35

Table 4.12. Age of library users by library and overall as a percentage of respondents in each library ...... 35

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Table 4.13. Frequency of library use as a percentage of respondents in each library and overall ...... 36

Table 4.14. Purpose for visiting library (percentage of respondents who ticked each category) ...... 37

Table 4.15. Percentage of library users who borrow fiction and/or non-fiction Books ...... 38

Table 4.16. Number of people who borrow books in each library and overall ...... 39

Table 4.17. Percentage of book borrowers borrowing each category by library and overall ...... 39

Table 4.18. Number of non-fiction borrowers in each library by gender and consequent ratio ...... 39

Table 4.19. Proportion of males and females who borrow non-fiction ...... 40

Table 4.20. Number of male and female respondents selecting genres in each library and overall ...... 40

Table 4.21. Categories chosen by male and female respondents ranked by popularity over all libraries ...... 41

Table 4.22. Borrowing of non-fiction broken down by percentage in each age group ...... 42 Table 4.23. Of each age group what fraction borrowed non-fiction, by percentage ...... 43

Table 4.24. TEA of respondents by percentage for each library and overall ...... 46

Table 4.25. Non-fiction categories ranked by popularity for each TEA ...... 46

Table 4.26. Work status of all respondents, by percentage ...... 47

Table 4.27. Non-fiction borrowers by work status as a percentage of non-fiction borrowers ...... 48 Table 4.28. Reasons for borrowing non-fiction ...... 49

Table 4.29. Number of respondents who ticked each category in each library and the total for all libraries ...... 50

Table 4.30. Categories ranked by popularity for all libraries ...... 51

Table 4.31. Ranking of subjects in each library by popularity ...... 53

Table 4.32. Percentage of respondents who use the internet in each library and overall ...... 53

Table 4.33. The age breakdown of respondents who use the internet ...... 54

Table 4.34. Percentage of each age category that use the internet...... 55

Table 4.35. Percentage of library users who buy non-fiction books and where ..... 56

Table 4.36. Number of people who bought subjects, ranked by popularity ...... 58

Table 4.37. Reasons for not buying non-fiction as a percentage of those who said they did not buy non-fiction ...... 58

Table 4.38. Non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues, and non-fiction stock as a percentage of total stock for each library, for 1995-1996 and 2012-2013 ...... 61

Table 4.39. 2012-2013 data as a fraction of the 1995-1996 data ...... 61

List of Figures

Figure 3.1. Map showing location of each case study library in North Hampshire ...... 14

Figure 4.1. Line graph showing non-fiction issues by year in each library as a fraction of non-fiction issues in that library in 2009-2010 ...... 31

Figure 4.2. Line graph showing age of library users by library and overall as a percentage of respondents in each library ...... 36

Figure 4.3. Bar chart showing frequency of library use in each library and overall ...... 37

Figure 4.4. Bar chart showing percentage of library users who borrow fiction and/or non-fiction books ...... 38

Figure 4.5. Bar chart showing numbers of respondents who borrow each subject, broken down by gender ...... 41

Figure 4.6. Bar chart showing percentages of male and female who borrow each subject ...... 42

Figure 4.7. Bar chart showing fraction of respondents in each age range who borrow non-fiction ...... 43

Figure 4.8. Bar chart showing of each age group what percentage borrow non-fiction ...... 44

Figure 4.9. Line graph showing the percentage of each age group who borrow non-fiction ...... 44

Figure 4.10. Bar chart showing percentage of each subject borrowed by each age range ...... 45

Figure 4.11. Bar chart showing percentage of respondents in each library for each work status group ...... 48

Figure 4.12. Pie chart showing relative popularity of reasons for borrowing non-fiction ...... 49

Figure 4.13. Bar chart showing numbers of respondents who ticked each category in each library ...... 50

Figure 4.14. Bar chart showing total number of respondents who ticked each category for all libraries ...... 51

Figure 4.15. Bar chart showing percentage of respondents across all libraries who use the internet ...... 54

Figure 4.16. Line graph showing age breakdown of library users who use the internet ...... 55

Figure 4.17. Bar chart showing subjects bought by respondents in each library .... 57

Figure 4.18. Bar chart showing subjects bought by respondents totalled for all libraries ...... 57

Figure 4.19. Scatter plot graph showing non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues against non-fiction stock as a percentage of stock, 1995-1996 ...... 62

Figure 4.20. Scatter plot graph showing non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues against non-fiction stock as a percentage of stock, 2012-2013 ...... 62

Figure 5.1. Venn diagram showing the fraction of male and female non-fiction borrowing as a proportion of total male and female respondents ...... 68

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Abbreviations

BL = British Library

BLRIC = British Library Research and Innovation Centre

BML = Book Marketing Limited

CILIP = Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals

CIPFA = Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy

CIPFAPLUS = Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy Public Library User Survey

DDC = Dewey Decimal Classification

HCC = Hampshire County Council

HLIS = Hampshire Library and Information Service

LISA = Library and Information Science Abstracts

LISTA = Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts

PEU = Percentage of Expected Use

PLR = Public Lending Right

STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

TEA = Terminal Education Age

UK = United Kingdom

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Hampshire County Council and the library managers for granting permission to carry out research. I would also like to thank my work colleagues at Tadley library for their support.

Thanks are also due to my dissertation supervisor Pauline Rafferty and the staff at the Department of Information Studies, Aberystwyth University, and finally to my family for all their encouragement.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background

Public libraries in the United Kingdom (UK) are facing extremely challenging times. Library closures, cuts in book budgets and the replacement of paid library staff with volunteers are some of the realities in 2015. Libraries have diversified to modernise the services they provide for example by offering eBooks and internet provision. However, libraries also continue to offer the traditional function of physical book lending, which includes non-fiction. The commonly held view (partially fuelled by the media) is that libraries are outdated, and that the need for information books has been superseded by use of the internet. Studies were discovered by a preliminary literature search on non-fiction borrowing trends in public libraries to have been mostly conducted in the 1990s and early 2000s, thus identifying a research gap in subsequent years.

1.2 Research Purpose

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the current situation concerning non- fiction books in UK public libraries.

1.3 Aims and Objectives

The aims of this dissertation are to investigate the information seeking behaviour of public library users in 2015 regarding non-fiction by discovering who is borrowing non- fiction, which subjects, and why. Improvement of stock collection management policy on non-fiction acquisition and maintenance in public libraries will be enabled. The objectives listed will allow the researcher to fulfil these aims.

 The breakdown of library users by demographics such as age, gender, terminal education age (TEA) and work status will be investigated to place non-fiction usage in context.  Library user behaviour such as frequency and purpose of visit will also be analysed for frame of reference.  Non-fiction book buying, and use of the internet will be analysed to determine if these activities are impacting on non-fiction borrowing.

1.4 Scope

These aims will be achieved by conducting research in the author’s home area of North Hampshire, focussing on five public libraries. The research will be a mixture of primary data collection from the library management system, and library user questionnaires as well as analysis of pre-constructed data from various sources including the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and in-house Hampshire Library and Information Service (HLIS) reports. Adult non-fiction will be analysed in depth rather than a combination of children’s non-fiction and adult non-fiction. This is due to the ethical considerations of children participating in research, and also the resulting volume of data that would ensue.

1.5 Dissertation Structure

Chapter 2 (Literature Review) explains the search strategy adopted in order to discover what research had been conducted in the area of non-fiction in public libraries. Chapter 3 (Methodology) continues by outlining the methods by which the research will be conducted. Chapter 4 (Results and Analysis) presents the original data collected, and the secondary data considered pertinent to the dissertation’s aims. Chapter 5 (Findings and Discussion) builds on the previous chapters by comparing the primary data from Chapter 4 with the research findings in the literature review.

1.6 Referencing and Citation Style

The citation style used in this dissertation is Harvard APA 6th edition. All sources used are listed alphabetically in the Bibliography, and include works referred to in the dissertation, as well as works read but not specifically cited.

1.7 Conclusion

This introduction has set out the background to the dissertation, the research purpose, and the aims and objectives. The scope and structure of the dissertation is explained. Finally the referencing and citation style is described. Chapter 2 (Literature Review) will review previous research in the field of non-fiction in UK public libraries.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

This chapter describes research that has been previously been carried out regarding non- fiction use in public libraries in the UK over the past 30 years, and the particular methodologies used in each study. The search strategy adopted is explained in the next section, followed by the results in section 2.3, which are then presented thematically in section 2.4.

2.2 Search Methods Employed

The databases Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) and Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) via Aberystwyth University’s Primo Online library catalogue were extensively searched for relevant books, journal articles and reports. A Boolean search for “public” AND “libraries” AND “borrowing” and keyword searches for “adult non-fiction public libraries” elicited hundreds of results which were then filtered for being in English and related to the UK.

Aberystwyth University Online Repository “Cadair” was searched to find Masters Theses based on public libraries and the bibliographies of these were perused.

An online search engine (Google) was used to elicit pertinent information on public libraries and non-fiction borrowing in general.

Trade publications such as The Bookseller and Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Update were browsed for relevant articles.

The HLIS online catalogue was consulted for books pertaining to collection development and evaluation of public library services. The North West Hampshire library archive was also searched for relevant user surveys and internal reports detailing historical stock and circulation information.

2.3 Results of the Search

The search found two main strands of research undertaken in the context of non-fiction books in UK public libraries.

1. Data collected under the auspices of official bodies 2. Research undertaken by individuals (university academics)

The data collected by official bodies tended to be on a UK wide basis, whereas research by university departments focused on smaller scale case studies. However, similar themes were identified throughout both research types. These themes are individually assessed. In section 2.4 review articles are referenced that summarised and commentated on other people’s research in the area, for example England and Sumsion (1995), and Sumsion (2001).

2.3.1 Official Bodies Data Collection

Numerous official bodies have collected statistics on book borrowing in the UK over time. These have changed depending on the political context (which government has been in office) and what funding has been made available. Each has had a slightly different focus and therefore approach on data gathering which has resulted in a lack of consistency in the consequent information.

Sumsion (2001) reviewed what data had been collected and by whom. He reported that in the 1980s, Euromonitor Ltd. compared public library borrowing with book buying by age and social class; this was judged to be advantageous as libraries should be viewed in the context of the wider book business. It was suggested that too many library services had depended on use of quantitative variables without subsequent interpretation.

Book Marketing Ltd. (BML) ran a continuous survey “Books and the Consumer” between 1989 and 1996 which included library use among adults and was described as the largest social research sample of library users (BML, 1997). A series of reports were subsequently published by BML and the British Library (BL), but did not include questions on specific genre borrowing until 1994.

BL funding for a longer series of questions to be asked over a three year period resulted in a major report; “Libraries and the Consumer 1994-1996 a comprehensive guide to the library market” (BML, 1997). The methodology used was face-to-face interviewing. The report contained data on the percentage of book borrowers who took out non-fiction, the genres borrowed, and the frequency. The demographics of non-fiction borrowers were presented, broken down by gender, age, social grade, and TEA. Reasons for borrowing non-fiction books were given. Genres that were bought as well as borrowed were

4 analysed. This report is particularly useful as it amalgamated the data collected over the time period, thus allowing the identification of borrowing trends.

In 1998 a one-off survey entitled “The Household Library Use Survey” was undertaken by BML using a grant provided by the British Library Research and Innovation Centre (BLRIC). The research aims were to gain current awareness of consumer uses and attitudes towards libraries so information could be provided to public libraries for them to better understand their customers and thus provide good service (BML, 1998). The research methodology comprised sending a questionnaire to a nationally representative sample of 1200 households on the “Books and The Consumer” panel. In addition to the variables explored in the previous BML reports, the “Household Library Use Survey” analysed the borrowing habits of children, and looked at borrowing trends by life-stage of household, by presence of children in the household, and by television region of the household. In contrast to the “Libraries and the Consumer” report, it did not look at the different genres of non-fiction borrowed in relation to each other or reasons given for borrowing non-fiction books. These differences in methodology make comparisons with previous BML reports difficult.

Sumsion (2001) described how the Public Lending Right (PLR) operation since the 1980s had contributed to a more detailed analysis of book lending in the UK. The PLR is the legal right to payment from government each time books are borrowed from public libraries (Public Lending Right, 2015). By breaking down non-fiction into subject categories, the percentage of loans from each could be seen and compared year on year. However, precise comparability is affected as categories are changed periodically.

In the early 1990s a standardised user survey was developed called CIPFA PLUS (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy Public Library User Survey) by the committee for Public Library Statistics with support from central government and BL. Sumsion (2001) explained how this data could give strong indications on how to prioritize services and track changes in library use by comparing individual libraries and whole library authorities’ performance.

2.3.2 Research Carried out by Individuals

Different methodologies were used by people researching non-fiction in public libraries depending on the specific information they were trying to obtain. Case study approaches using either quantitative or qualitative methods were employed in the 1990s and 2000s.

A quantitative approach was used for a study of Westminster Libraries from 1996 to 1998 by Smith (1999a), where data on adult book stock use was collected from the library management information system to find out who read non-fiction and what kind. 36 different subject areas were represented by the Dewey decimal classification (DDC) numbers. A comparative analysis of non-fiction use was undertaken by combining the percentage on loan with the average issues per item, which gave a single value that allowed all the subjects to be ranked by popularity. The percentage of expected use (PEU) of subjects was also determined relative to other subjects.

Sumsion (2001) described a Master’s Dissertation by Liu that analysed borrowers’ loans of non-fiction and fiction in two UK library authorities (Sandwell and Hounslow) in 1994 also by using computerised circulation records. DDC was considered unsuitable as the ten divisions were too broad to indicate the books’ subject matter, so non-fiction books were reclassified into 34 PLR categories instead (England and Sumsion, 1995). However, rather than analysing actual numbers (and subsequent percentages) of borrowers of non- fiction, an arbitrary definition of light, average and heavy borrowers by age and gender was used which could not be compared with other studies.

In contrast, Timperley and Spiller (1999) examined the impact of non-fiction lending from public libraries (based on a Master’s Dissertation by Timperley) using a qualitative approach. Users were interviewed as they returned non-fiction books to their libraries. Three large libraries in East Midlands were studied between September and October 1998. Books were assigned to one of 40 PLR subject categories which were then grouped into 11 main categories.

Morris, Hawkins and Sumsion (2001) also interviewed users returning non-fiction books in Bedford, Hinckley and Rugby public libraries in an attempt to measure the value of public library services by estimating the value of book loans, based on the value placed by library users on the books read. They asked what the purpose was for borrowing, and for users to select reasons for borrowing rather than buying.

Smith (1980) researched adult non-fiction stock and use in the three counties of East Anglia for a report commissioned by BL about book provision and use in public libraries. Nine libraries were chosen comprising a small, medium and large library from each county. The methodology was a mix of quantitative and qualitative; the stock was analysed by what was on the shelves, and a user survey was undertaken at three libraries to ascertain personal characteristics of users and how libraries were used. Initially the survey was designed for people to fill in themselves, but it was decided to conduct the questionnaires as interviews instead. This seemed to be an ill-informed decision, as the interviewer found that asking face-to-face questions about levels of education and types of employment difficult, and therefore these answers were incomplete.

Breslin and McMenemy (2006) presented the results of a small scale survey in Scotland in 2005 using web questionnaires to analyse the decline in book borrowing from Britain’s public libraries.

Shenton and Dixon (2004) explored by means of a qualitative English study how children used public libraries to find non-fiction books.

2.4 Common Themes in Research on Non-Fiction in UK Public Libraries

Common themes throughout previous research on non-fiction in public libraries have been identified. They include contextual information about library users in general, for example demographic data on age and gender, and data on user behaviour such as frequency of library use and purpose of visit.

Non-fiction borrowing was typically analysed as a proportion of total borrowing. Non- fiction usage and popularity of genres were analysed by different variables such as gender, age, TEA, work status and social class. Reasons for borrowing non-fiction were often discussed and non-fiction book buying behaviour researched. Analyses of overall trends in book borrowing in public libraries were prevalent in the literature and are considered relevant by the researcher as they allowed non-fiction borrowing to be set in context, and for possible future scenarios to be discussed.

These particular themes found in the literature will now be presented individually.

2.4.1 Demographics of Library Users

Females comprised 61.4% of library users, and males 38.6% in the Tadley library survey (Hampshire Libraries and Information Service, 1986). CIPFA in 1998 reported library use by gender was 40% of men, and 60% of women (Hawkins, Morris, and Sumsion, 2001). Smith (1980) found that in each case study library in East Anglia two thirds of users were female, and a third were male.

The “Libraries and the Consumer 1994-1996” report showed that a quarter of library users were aged over 65 (BML, 1997), and the Tadley library user survey reported one fifth of respondents were over 65 (Hampshire Libraries and Information Service, 1986).

2.4.2 Frequency of Library Use

In 1986 the most prevalent frequency was visiting the library weekly (29.8% of respondents) (Hampshire Libraries and Information Service, 1986). For the East Anglia case studies visit frequency was evenly spread between weekly and fortnightly (Smith, 1980).

2.4.3 Purpose for Visiting Library

89.8% of respondents in the East Anglia survey said they were visiting the library to borrow or return books (Smith, 1980). For the Tadley library user survey in 1986 83.9% of visitors were borrowing or returning books (Hampshire Libraries and Information Service, 1986).

2.4.4 Non-Fiction Borrowing as a Proportion of Total Borrowing

The “Libraries and the Consumer 1994-1996” report showed that the percentage of library users who borrowed non-fiction over those years remained constant (around 87%), slightly higher than the percentage who borrowed fiction (BML, 1997). This is consistent with the “Household Library Use Survey 1998” which reported that 25% of all individuals (respondents included non-library users) borrowed adult non-fiction, compared with 24% who borrowed adult fiction (BML, 1998). The Sandwell and Hounslow study reported that the number of non-fiction borrowers and fiction borrowers were roughly equal (Sumsion, 2001). However, loan statistics showed fiction loans comprised 53-55% of total loans compared with 23-24% for non-fiction. England and Sumsion (1995) concluded that if the number of borrowers of non-fiction were counted

8 rather than the absolute number of books borrowed, then the importance of non-fiction soared.

2.4.5 Gender Differences in Non-Fiction Borrowing and by Genre

The “Libraries and the Consumer 1994-1996” report showed that 57% of non-fiction borrowers were women, compared with 43% men (BML, 1997). The “Household Library Use Survey 1998” reported that women comprised 61% of non-fiction borrowers, with men 35% (a rise of 4% of women borrowers since 1994-1996), but another 4% borrowing was accounted for by children (as children’s borrowing habits were included in this study) (BML, 1998). These two surveys contrasted with the findings by Timperley and Spiller (1999), where 47% of non-fiction users were female, and 53% male. A limitation of all these findings is that no consideration is given to what fraction of men who use the library overall borrow non-fiction, and what fraction of women overall borrow non- fiction. These results may be totally different to the percentages of male and female non- fiction borrowers.

Gender differences were found to translate through to the genres borrowed. For example, it was shown that 69% of those borrowing True Life books were women compared with 31% of men, and 73% of those borrowing Food and Drink books were women compared with 27% of men. 83% of those borrowing books on War were men, compared with 17% of women (BML, 1997).

Timperley and Spiller (1999) found similar gender differences by subject borrowed, with men returning over 70% of the books in the Science, History, War, Transport, and Sports categories. Women returned over 60% of the books in Social Science, Religion, Family, Health, Food, Crafts and DIY categories.

2.4.6 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Age

The “Libraries and the Consumer 1994-1996” report found age differences were less pronounced for non-fiction than for the fiction genres, although Biography, History and Travel books had older than average profiles (BML, 1997). Hawkins, Morris and Sumsion (2001) stated that use by age group was more even than was sometimes supposed based on the percentages published by BML in 1997, where the proportion of library users in each age group borrowing non-fiction varied only from 13% to 20%. They reported that it was the purpose of library use that varied throughout life (based on

Timperley and Spiller’s work) rather than the usage itself. Research by Usherwood, Wilson and Bryson (2005) on the perceived relevance of libraries, museums and archives also demonstrated that patterns of use were rarely constant, but tended to occur at specific times in respondents’ lives.

The age brackets used in Liu’s research were far too broad (1-17, 18-59 and 60 plus) to be able to draw any conclusions on differential borrowing by age group but the most popular non-fiction categories overall were Travel and Biography (England and Sumsion, 1995).

Shenton and Dixon (2004) found that non-fiction books remained an important source of information for many youngsters, even if they had access to electronic materials at home. This was especially true when parents had cultivated a library-going culture for their children. This was in contrast to Grindlay and Morris (2004a) who viewed that electronic sources were taking over some of the traditional functions of non-fiction books, possibly causing a decrease in children’s book loans in the late 1990s. Sumsion (2001) downplayed the trend, citing statistics on UK public library loans from Loughborough University’s Library and Information Statistics Unit (LISU) that showed children’s lending had hardly been affected in contrast to adult lending. He suggested this could be ascribed to library authorities shielding children’s services from budget cuts and by emphasizing the benefits of non-fiction lending for children.

2.4.7 Non-Fiction Borrowing by TEA

Students and those whose education ended at age 19 or later were more likely to use libraries and to use non-fiction. Those with lower TEAs were more likely to read fiction than non-fiction (Hawkins, Morris and Sumsion, 2001). There were also differences in the type of non-fiction borrowed by TEA; Hawkins, Morris and Sumsion (2001) found that people whose education finished later read more History and Travel, whereas those with lower TEAs preferred True Life books.

2.4.8 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Work Status

Although work status was a theme in the literature, the following was the only study that had comparable data. Timperley and Spiller (1999) reported that 28% of people returning non-fiction books were retired. 44% were employed, 15% were students, 4% were unemployed and 5% were home and family carers.

2.4.9 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Social Class

Hawkins, Morris and Sumsion (2001) reported on data from BML on library use by socio-economic grouping, which showed that use was more even than was sometimes supposed. However, they reported that the higher social classes (Class AB professional and managerial) used libraries, especially non-fiction, in excess of their relative proportion of the population.

2.4.10 Reasons for Borrowing Non-Fiction and Subjects Borrowed

Research by Timperley and Spiller (1999) showed the most popular reason for borrowing non-fiction was for practical purposes (29%), with “hobby” (26.5%) second, then “for pleasure” (13.8%) third. This differed to the BML (1997) report, where reading for pleasure was the top reason for 58% of respondents, but “practical reasons” were still cited by a high percentage (30%). The most heavily used titles were also those required for practical purposes in Smith’s study (1999a) comprising subjects like Computing, Languages, Health, DIY, Legal Issues, Business and Photography. He also found that the most popular books in any subject area were practical in type, for example, the most popular books in the Literature section were those on how to write reports. Morris, Hawkins and Sumsion (2001) reported the most frequently given reason was for practical information (42%), with “for pleasure” second (33%). Borrowing for a job was given by the lowest number of respondents. Morris, Hawkins and Sumsion (2001) concurred these reasons were similar to those identified in the surveys by BML and Timperley and Spiller.

2.4.11 Non-Fiction Book Buying versus Non-Fiction Book Borrowing

The impact of book buying on library issues is disputed. Hawkins, Morris and Sumsion (2001) suggested that the two activities were not in competition, based on the “Libraries and the Consumer 1994-1996” report which postulated that those who borrow heavily also buy large numbers of books. Indeed, the report discovered a close correlation between library use and book buying, with 44% of people who borrow Food and Drink books also buying that genre (BML, 1997). Morris, Hawkins and Sumsion (2001) stated the most cited reason for borrowing rather than buying non-fiction was that the book would be used only once, and the other significant reason was cost.

2.4.12 Reasons for Overall Trends in Book Borrowing

Smith (1999a) said that although library issues in general were falling, there still remained a strong demand for a variety of non-fiction subjects. He stated that rather than the growth in home computer use undermining the value of the book, it was actually creating a huge demand for books on Computing and the Internet. The “Libraries and the Consumer 1994-1996” report showed Travel was the only genre to have increased issues, with fewer borrowers of True-Life stories and Food and Drink (BML, 1997).

Grindaly and Morris (2004a) and Breslin and McMenemy (2006) gave intrinsic and extrinsic factors for the decline in adult book lending. These reasons, although for total book issues, could also be considered pertinent to those for non-fiction issues.

Intrinsic factors were reasons which were due to the actions or behaviours of libraries themselves. Grindlay and Morris (2004a) cited factors such as decreased funding and effect on book stocks, reductions in opening hours, closures, or library regulations for example increases in fines. Breslin and McMenemy (2006) also included library location, appearance and people not feeling welcome.

Extrinsic factors were those that could be considered outside of libraries’ control, of which there were many. Grindlay and Morris (2004a) mentioned decreased reading of books possibly due to increased affluence and therefore alternative leisure opportunities, and increased book purchases due to changes in the book retail industry (the effect of the end of the net book agreement in 1995 resulting in discounted books becoming available, and the rise of internet bookselling). They also suggested that the growth of computing and the internet had had an adverse effect on reading, as it was an alternative source of entertainment as well as for information seeking. Crucially, they postulated that libraries had introduced competition with books within libraries themselves with the introduction of internet access, and that electronic sources were taking over some of the traditional function of non-fiction books. Hawkins, Morris and Sumsion (2001) hinted at wider implications due to the increased availability of internet access from home.

Breslin and McMenemy (2006) concurred that many people preferred to get books elsewhere (either online or from physical bookshops), they were too busy to visit libraries, preferred to do other things or just did not like libraries. The negative image of libraries in the press was also cited as an extrinsic factor deterring book borrowing.

The era of digitisation was also likely to have had an impact on the borrowing of print materials from libraries. However, Joint (2008) challenged some of the more casual assumptions about the “death” of traditional libraries and that the web was taking over from libraries. By conducting a comparative analysis of statistics of library use available in the public domain, it was concluded that despite the evidence of a decline in traditional print book public library circulation, visits to public libraries in the UK were increasing, suggesting that people were using them to access reading materials on the internet.

2.4.13 Opinions on Non-Fiction Provision

Opinions of borrowers on book provision were sought in the “Household Library Use Survey 1998”: “Borrowers appeared to have fairly positive opinions about the range of adult fiction available for loan in the public libraries that they used, but appeared rather less satisfied with the range of non-fiction available” (BML, 1998, p.12). Although not wholly related to non-fiction book provision, when Breslin and McMenemy (2006) asked the open question was there anything that would make people more likely to borrow books from public libraries, the most common comment was related to desired changes in library stock.

2.5 Conclusion

This chapter has detailed research undertaken in the UK over the past 30 years regarding book borrowing trends in public libraries, with reference to non-fiction. The different methodologies (either quantitative, qualitative or mixed) used by each study were described as well as which variables were analysed. These were then presented thematically. The literature search showed no evidence of any in-depth investigation of non-fiction borrowing trends over the past 15 years, which identifies a research gap which this dissertation will address.

Based on the assessment of methodologies adopted by the previous research, Chapter 3 will now present the particular methodology chosen to investigate non-fiction in the context of this dissertation’s aims and objectives. The primary data collected (using North Hampshire public libraries as case studies) will be carefully selected to be as comparable as possible with the secondary data detailed in this literature review in order to form a longitudinal assessment.

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Introduction

This chapter sets out the research methodology chosen to investigate non-fiction in public libraries in the UK in 2015. The previous chapter explored how different official bodies and academic studies used a variety of research techniques to achieve this in previous decades. The methodology described here is intended to provide longitudinally comparable data to the greatest extent possible.

3.2 The Case Study Libraries

Five libraries were chosen as case studies in the author’s home area of North Hampshire. For comparison purposes a variety of sizes and locations were chosen comprising small, medium and large libraries (as denoted by HLIS) which were located in urban and rural areas. Figure 3.1 shows the location of each library.

Tadley library

Chineham library

South Ham library Basingstoke library

Figure 3.1. Map showing location of each case study library in North Hampshire

Basingstoke library is categorised as large and is situated in Basingstoke town centre. Chineham library is medium and is in a suburb of Basingstoke. Overton library is small

14 and located in a village in a rural area eight miles west of Basingstoke. South Ham library is medium and is in a suburb of Basingstoke. Tadley library is a medium sized library and located in a small town seven miles north of Basingstoke.

3.3 Data Collection Methods

The primary data collection consisted of two quantitative approaches; collection of data from the Hampshire library management system (Spydus) and self-completion questionnaires. As Smith (1999b) noted, quantitative data from library systems provides a more accurate view of the extent and nature of public library use than surveys as interviewees habitually overstate their own library use, but surveys can more accurately determine the type of people that use libraries. These two methods were therefore chosen to be complementary, as people’s responses could be compared with the Spydus data.

Secondary data collection comprised CIPFA Public Library statistics and “Active Borrowers Research Analysis” data which was collected on behalf of HLIS for individual libraries. Internal reports detailing historical stock and circulation information and user studies for North Hampshire libraries were also used.

3.4 Analysis of Primary Data from Spydus

Stock performance in each library was analysed by two methods. Firstly, circulation figures for non-fiction stock over the last six years were extracted from the system for each library and for each designated category. Full data was only available for the years commencing April 2009 due to a change in library management system in 2008. Secondly, the current relative use of categories by borrowers (April 2014 to March 2015) was calculated by looking at stock holdings and issues as a percentage of total stock holdings and issues. The method followed is ascribed to Mills who suggested the creation of a related variable known as the percentage of expected use (PEU) (Baker and Lancaster, 1991). Baker (1993) explains that circulation totals are more revealing when expressed in terms of relative use because the amount of use that each portion of the collection actually receives can be compared with the expected amount of use. Table 3.1 shows how this is achieved.

Total Number of Total Annual Volumes in the eg 15000 in non- Circulation for the eg 8000 in non-fiction Circulating fiction Collection as a Collection (a) Whole (b) Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Percentage of Percentage of Total Volumes in Annual Circulation Percentage of Class Collection Occupied Circulation Accounted Each Class of Each Class Expected Use (PEU) by Each Class for by Each Class Column 2 divided by Column 4 divided by Column 5 divided by eg 000 eg 300 (a) multiplied by 100 eg 200 (b) multiplied by 100 Column 3 multiplied Computing eg 2% eg 2.5% by 100 eg 125%

Table 3.1. Calculating the relative use of various classes. Table derived from Baker 1993

Baker (1993) described that the expected use of a subject will be 100%, so the PEUs of classes can be ranked to find over-used and under-used classes. Thresholds can therefore be subjectively defined where below 80% represents under-used classes, and above 120% represents over-used classes (Baker and Lancaster, 1991).

Choosing which stock categories to analyse was difficult, as a balance was required between picking areas that had been researched before (to allow longitudinal comparison) and facility of extraction from the system. Baker (1993) suggested choosing fine rather than broad classes, so as to discern trends of individual subjects. The categories used by Timperley and Spiller (1999), Smith (1999a) and BML reports (1997, 1998) were cross- referenced to find common subject headings. As HLIS classifies non-fiction by DDC, the closest corresponding DDC divisions were carefully selected; the consequent 18 areas are shown in Table 3.2.

Category Dewey Numbers Analysed Art 700, 750 Biography B Business, Economics, Finance and Management 650, 330 Computing/IT 000 Crafts 745.5, 746 DIY 643.7 Food and Drink 642 Health and Medicine 610 History 900, 930, 940, 950, 960, 970, 980, 990 Languages 400 Law 340 Literature 800 Music 780 Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology 100, 140, 150, 180, 190, 300 Religion 200 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) 500, 620 Sport and Games 790 Travel 910

Table 3.2. Eighteen DDC areas for analysis

An additional category of True Life Stories was included on the questionnaire because it was used in previous surveys, but as no clearly defined Dewey class could be found that adequately captured this popular genre, its use could not be analysed quantitatively. Some categories included in previous research could not be included as the topic headings were too diverse for comparison, for example “Animals”, “Nature and Animals” or “Pets”.

3.5 Analysis of Primary Data from Self-Completed Questionnaires

Self-completed questionnaires were chosen as a way of eliciting information about patterns of non-fiction borrowing behaviour in each library because they facilitated the collection of extensive data in a reasonable timescale. Bond (2006) stated the purpose of a questionnaire was to undertake extensive research, seeking broad patterns of thought and behaviour within a sample population. The advantages of self-completed questionnaires were detailed by Bryman (2008) who said they were cheap and quick to administer, there were no interviewer effects or interviewer variability, and were convenient for respondents.

3.5.1 Design of Self-Completed Questionnaires

Questionnaires can generate quantitative data or qualitative data depending on the type of questions asked. Closed questions generate fixed-choice answers (quantitative data), and are therefore easier to code for analysis purposes, whereas open questions generate qualitative data that requires post-coding (Bryman, 2008). It was decided that the majority of the questions were to be closed questions, with one open question to gather unique opinions and unusual responses to add richness to the statistics. The open question was “Do you have any suggestions regarding the non-fiction section in this library?” Responses to this were subsequently post-coded.

Following guidelines in Bryman (2008), the questionnaire had clear instructions on how respondents were to fill it out and a consistent print style. Question order convention was followed as set out in Loughborough University Library’s advice sheet on questionnaire design (Loughborough University, 2015a), starting with easy and non-threatening questions, going from closed to open questions, and particularly leaving demographic and personal questions until last.

Some questions mirrored those used by previous researchers (Timperley and Spiller, 1999; Smith, 1999a) for comparison purposes to judge whether there had been any changes in popularity of subjects borrowed over time. For this reason similar multiple choice options were also provided. The non-fiction genre options in several of the questions were comparable to those chosen for data collection from Spydus (Table 3.2). A copy of the questionnaire used is shown in Appendix A.

3.5.2 Piloting the Questionnaire

The questionnaire was then given to a small target group to test. Bryman (2008) suggested that the pilot study should not carried out on people who might be members of the sample included in the full study, therefore it is best to find a small set of respondents who are comparable to people who might form the sample for the study proper. For this reason the questionnaire was given to 12 library staff members, who were men and women of different ages. It was stressed that constructive criticism of the questionnaire was positively welcomed to try to reduce any possible “halo effect” whereby respondents might seek to tell the researcher what they think they want to hear.

The questionnaire was well received, with comments that it flowed well and appeared professional. Some spelling mistakes were spotted, (and rectified), and the wording of one question was changed slightly to avoid ambiguity. Only one participant failed to follow the filtering questions, thus failing to answer three questions. This was deemed an acceptable failure rate.

3.5.3 Administering the Questionnaire

It was decided to conduct the research on weekday mornings over a two week period within term time in each library. Table 3.3 shows the sampling times for each library.

Library Date Sampled Tadley Thursday 15th June 2015 Overton Tuesday 30th June 2015 Basingstoke Thursday 2nd July 2015 Chineham Tuesday 7th July 2015 South Ham Wednesday 8th July 2015

Table 3.3. Table of sampling times in each library

The dates were chosen such that, for consistency, each library had a children’s activity taking place during the morning (a “Storytime” or a “Rhymetime” session).

The sample was obtained by standing inside the entrance of each library for a three hour period from opening time asking each member of the public (who appeared 18 or over) if they would fill in a short questionnaire. As the data required included information on non- users of non-fiction as well as non-fiction users approaching each person was deemed necessary. This also meant that each person had an equal chance of selection, thus increasing the chance that the resulting sample was representative of library users. A record was kept of how many people refused to take part, and where given, the reason. This was to determine what proportion of that day’s users was sampled from each library.

3.6 Statistical Analysis of Data from Spydus and the Questionnaire

The raw data from Spydus and the user questionnaires were analysed and manipulated using Microsoft Excel 2010. The answers to the questions were tabulated with one respondent in each column and a value of “1” used for positive responses and “0” for null or negative responses. The data was analysed library by library by use of separate Excel

19 tabs. The “sum” function was frequently used, for example to determine the number of positive responses to a question by totalling all the “1”s in a row with the sample syntax =sum(c2:y2). The respondents were each assigned a unique number, by the numbering of each questionnaire prior to handing out (which ensured complete anonymity of data), and the “countif” function used to calculate the number of responders, for example =countif(c3:y3,“>0”).

While these functions were sufficient for analysis of single parameter responses to the questionnaire, in order to test more complicated theses, the “if” and “and” functions were used. The “if” function syntax, for example, =if(w3=“1”, “1”, “0”) assigned a cell 1 if w3 was 1 or zero if w3 was anything else. When combined with the “and” function this became a powerful analysis tool. For example, if the 3rd row was “is the responder female” and the 7th row was “does the responder borrow non-fiction” then the following compound function determined whether the responder in column “w” was both female and borrowed non-fiction: =if(and(w3=”1”,w7=”1”), “1”, “0”). This function was easily copied across all responders and the total found using the “sum” function as usual.

All the values were easily displayed in tables, and then Excel charts created as required. These included bar charts, pie charts, line graphs and scatter plots which were used as appropriate to best and most consistently display the results as presented in Chapter 4.

3.7 Analysis of Secondary Data from CIPFA Public Library Statistics

National statistics on non-fiction issues were analysed, including Hampshire county statistics, in order to place the primary data in context and to determine where similar trends were evidenced.

3.8 Analysis of Secondary Data from Active Borrowers Research Analysis

This data was taken from Spydus for each library by HLIS (Lockyer, 2014) for January to December 2014 to indicate the socio-demographic features of users. This information was used in this dissertation in preference to asking which social class a respondent believed they belonged to within the questionnaire, which was deemed too personal and potentially provocative. The main customer profiles were cross-referenced with the questionnaire responses and Spydus issue figures to seek any correlations.

3.9 Analysis of Secondary Data from Internal Reports for North Hampshire Libraries

Data for the five libraries was analysed from a North Division internal report in 1996 (Hampshire Libraries and Information Service, 1996) which included stock and issue figures for adult fiction, adult non-fiction and total stock and issues. Percentages of non- fiction issues and non-fiction stock holdings relative to the overall issues and stock were then calculated from the overall totals. This was compared to recent stock and issue information.

Results of a library user survey for Tadley library in 1986 (Hampshire Libraries and Information Service, 1986) were compared to this dissertation’s survey results of 2015, particularly regarding the type of non-fiction subjects borrowed and the demographic breakdown of users.

3.10 Limitations of the Chosen Methodology

Evaluating a collection by analysing circulation figures inherently assumes that a book’s use is a measure of its value. Gorman and Howes (1989) suggested that, although past use of books is a valid indicator of likely future use, it is the availability of material that is the most significant factor affecting material use. They also stated that there is an implied assumption of use and user studies that heavy use of a collection means it is a good collection, but it is demands rather than needs that are being measured.

Gorman and Howes (1989) correctly acknowledged that surveys of actual users ignore potential users unless it is assumed that potential users have the same needs or make the same demands as existing users. However, looking at information seeking behaviour of non-library users is outside the scope of this dissertation although to do so would be useful in order to place public library borrowing in the context of alternative methods of information acquisition and book publishing/bookselling, rather than view it in isolation, as it is intrinsically linked with these spheres.

There are many limitations of questionnaires, particularly self-completed ones. They may be incorrectly answered, or as Bryman (2008) pointed out, they could be partially completed leading to missing data for the variables. When this occurred in the research for this dissertation, the entire questionnaire was excluded from the analysis.

There is also the possibility of a low response rate, if people decline to take part, or take the questionnaire but do not return it. Bryman (2008) stated that the lower the response rate, the greater the risk of bias in the results. However, if there are no considerable differences between the participants and the refusals then the results will be sound. This can only be subjectively concluded in the context of this study by visually determining whether there was commonality in the people who decline to participate. The surveys were carried out on weekdays; an extension to the investigation could be produced if this was repeated on a weekend as it is likely fewer people in employment use libraries during the week than at weekends thus causing bias in the results.

As self-completed questionnaires are necessarily limited in length, some pertinent questions had to be omitted. For example there was no question asking about borrowing for others; England and Sumsion (1995) established that this happens among adults at a frequency of about 11% (7% regularly borrow for an adult relative, and 4% for other adults) and Timperley (1999) reported that 23% of books had been used by people in addition to the primary borrower. Also, children’s non-fiction borrowing by subject was not included, as it was deemed too complex for people to answer this alongside adult non- fiction category questions. Children’s responses were also not sought, due to ethical considerations. Only specific categories of non-fiction were chosen to analyse, which meant that subsequent results were representative rather than exhaustive.

England and Sumsion (1995) reported that in many questionnaires borrowers were asked about the type of books borrowed; the validity of this method depended on how well respondents could remember past actions. This is why a mixed method approach has been adopted in this research, so that circulation records can provide hard evidence of users’ behaviour.

3.11 Ethical Considerations

The ethical guidelines followed in this dissertation are from Aberystwyth University’s Department of Information Studies (DIS) Ethics Policy for Research (Department of Information Studies, Aberystwyth University, 2010) and The British Sociological Association’s Statement of Ethical Practice (British Sociological Association, 2002).

The aims of the survey were clearly set out for respondents, with the assertion that all responses would be treated with confidentiality and anonymity would be preserved. Also,

22 it was stated that all data gathered in the survey would be destroyed on completion of the dissertation.

The data from Spydus (absolute numbers of issues and stock holdings) are represented in this dissertation as relative percentages to ensure confidentiality.

3.11.1 Authority to Carry out Research

Permission was granted to carry out research in Hampshire County Council (HCC) by the Group Manager of Culture, Communities and Rural Affairs within HCC. The letter is shown in Appendix B. The regional manager and library managers for the individual libraries concerned gave prior permission by email for the researcher to hand out questionnaires to the public on specific days.

3.12 Conclusion

This chapter has described the research methodology chosen to identify trends in non- fiction in public libraries, and detailed the five libraries in North Hampshire that were used as case studies. The main approach chosen was quantitative, comprising primary data collection (circulation data from the library management system, and a self- completed questionnaire for library users) and secondary data collection (official statistics from CIPFA and historical data from HLIS). Finally, the limitations of the methodology were outlined.

Chapter 4 presents the primary data collected from the different approaches, and the secondary data that will allow this to be put in context, both longitudinally, and spatially, from a local to county-wide to national level.

Chapter 4: Data Results and Analysis

4.1 Introduction

This chapter contains the results from the primary data collection divided into information from Spydus and the self-completed questionnaires. The Spydus results comprise circulation issue figures and PEU data. The response rate for the survey is discussed first, then the results received: the demographic breakdown of library users and their behaviour, and the different variables affecting non-fiction borrowing. The secondary data collected is then presented, from CIPFA and Hampshire library reports.

4.2 Primary Data from Spydus: Circulation Data Trends

Issues extracted from Spydus over the last six years show trends in subject borrowing by individual library and all libraries. Over all libraries the most borrowed category over time was consistently Travel (see Table 4.1), followed by History, apart from 2014-2015 when it was replaced by Biography. The third most popular subject was Health and Medicine, except in 2014-2015 when it was replaced by History. Travel’s proportion of total non-fiction issues had increased over time, from 14.5% in 2009-2010 to 17.7% in 2014-2015, whereas History had decreased from 13.2% to 9.9%. Biography had increased in popularity the most, ranked 12th in 2009-2010 to 2nd in 2014-2015, and increasing its fraction of total non-fiction borrowing from 4.6% to 10.2%.

Issues as a Percentage of Issues over all 18 Categories in the Year for All Libraries 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 Travel 14.5 Travel 15.8 Travel 15.7 Travel 16.6 Travel 17.1 Travel 17.7 History 13.2 History 12.8 History 9.9 History 10.1 History 10.3 Biography 10.2 Health and Medicine9.4 Health and Medicine9.1 Health and Medicine9.2 Health and Medicine8.5 Health and Medicine9.7 History 9.9 Psychology, 6.9PhilosophyFood and and Drink Sociology7.1 Psychology, 7.2PhilosophyBiography and Sociology7.6 Biography 9.2 Health and Medicine9.5 Food and Drink6.5 Crafts 7.0 Food and Drink7.0 Business, Economics,7.5 Psychology, Finance6.7 Philosophy andPsychology, Management and 6.5Sociology Philosophy and Sociology Business, Economics,6.5 Psychology, Finance 6.8Philosophy and Business,Management and Economics, Sociology6.8 Psychology, Finance7.0 Philosophyand Business,Management and Economics, Sociology6.5 Food Financeand Drink6.3 and Management Sport and Games6.4 Business, Economics,6.0 Crafts Finance 6.1 and ManagementFood and Drink6.5 Food and Drink6.4 Business, Economics,6.2 Finance and Management Science, Technology,5.5 Biography Engineering 5.9 andBiography Mathematics 6.1 Computing/IT5.9 Crafts 6.3 Crafts 6.0 Crafts 4.8 Sport and Games5.4 Computing/IT6.0 Crafts 5.8 Computing/IT5.7 Sport and Games5.3 Art 4.8 Computing/IT5.3 Sport and Games5.6 Sport and Games5.5 Sport and Games5.3 Computing/IT 5.0 Literature 4.6 Science, Technology,4.8 Science, Engineering Technology,5.2 andScience, MathematicsEngineering Technology,4.3 andScience, Mathematics Engineering Technology,3.9 Science, and MathematicsEngineering Technology,4.0 and EngineeringMathematics and Mathematics Biography 4.6 Art 4.3 Art 3.8 Literature 3.8 Literature 3.2 Literature 3.7 Computing/IT4.4 Literature 3.3 Literature 3.5 Art 3.6 Languages 2.9 Languages 3.2 Languages 2.6 Languages 2.3 Languages 3.2 Languages 3.1 Art 2.9 Art 2.9 Religion 2.3 Religion 1.8 Religion 2.1 Religion 2.0 Religion 1.5 Religion 1.6 Music 1.5 Music 1.2 Music 1.2 Music 1.3 Music 1.2 Music 1.1 Law 1.0 Law 0.8 Law 1.1 Law 1.0 Law 0.9 Law 0.7 DIY 0.4 DIY 0.3 DIY 0.3 DIY 0.2 DIY 0.2 DIY 0.2

Table 4.1. Ranked subjects derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in all libraries in each year. (Note the subject categories are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2). Colours have been used to highlight the subjects discussed in the text

The most popular subjects over time by library were determined. In Basingstoke for 2009-2010 it was History, then Travel for the past five consecutive years (see Table 4.2).

Issues as a Percentage of Issues over all 18 Categories in the Year for Basingstoke 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 History 14.0 Travel 12.6 Travel 14.3 Travel 15.1 Travel 16.0 Travel 16.7 Travel 12.6 History 12.0 History 10.2 History 10.8 History 11.4 History 10.9 Health and 9.2MedicinePsychology, 8.5 PhilosophyHealth and and 8.9Medicine SociologyHealth and 8.5MedicineHealth and 9.4MedicineHealth and 9.2Medicine Psychology,7.8 PhilosophyHealth and and 8.3Medicine SociologyPsychology, 7.9 PhilosophyBusiness, and Economics,8.1 SociologyBusiness, Finance Economics,7.6 andBiography Management Finance 8.0 and Management Business, Economics,7.2 Business, Finance Economics,7.3 andBusiness, Management Finance Economics,7.3 andPsychology, Management Finance7.8 Philosophy andPsychology, Management and7.5 PhilosophySociologyPsychology, and7.1 PhilosophySociology and Sociology Sport and Games6.7 Crafts 7.0 Computing/IT6.1 Biography 6.3 Biography 7.4 Business, Economics,6.9 Finance and Management Science, Technology,6.1 Computing/IT Engineering6.0 Science, and Mathematics Technology,5.9 Computing/IT Engineering6.0 Computing/IT and Mathematics6.0 Computing/IT 5.4 Art 5.0 Sport and Games5.8 Food and Drink5.9 Sport and Games5.7 Crafts 5.6 Sport and Games5.4 Literature 4.9 Science, Technology,5.6 Sport Engineeringand Games5.7 Food and and Mathematics Drink5.2 Sport and Games5.4 Crafts 5.3 Food and Drink4.7 Biography 5.3 Crafts 5.6 Crafts 5.0 Food and Drink4.9 Food and Drink4.8 Computing/IT4.6 Food and Drink5.2 Biography 5.4 Science, Technology,4.8 Science, Engineering Technology,4.3 Science, and Engineering Mathematics Technology,4.7 and Engineering Mathematics and Mathematics Biography 4.6 Art 4.5 Art 3.8 Literature 4.0 Languages 3.6 Literature 4.2 Crafts 3.7 Literature 3.4 Languages 3.8 Languages 3.7 Literature 3.5 Languages 4.1 Languages 3.0 Languages 3.0 Literature 3.6 Art 3.7 Art 2.9 Art 2.8 Religion 2.8 Religion 2.7 Religion 2.5 Religion 2.5 Religion 2.0 Religion 2.2 Music 1.5 Law 1.4 Law 1.4 Music 1.5 Music 1.4 Music 1.3 Law 1.3 Music 1.3 Music 1.3 Law 1.2 Law 1.1 Law 0.9 DIY 0.3 DIY 0.3 DIY 0.2 DIY 0.2 DIY 0.2 DIY 0.2

Table 4.2. Ranked subjects for Basingstoke derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year. (Note the subject categories are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2). Colours have been used to highlight the subjects discussed in the text

In Chineham Biography was the most popular for 2014-2015 and 2013-2014, then four years prior to that it was Travel (see Table 4.3).

Issues as a Percentage of Issues over all 18 Categories in the Year for Chineham 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 Travel 16.8 Travel 15.9 Travel 14.7 Travel 15.4 Biography 16.4 Biography 17.2 Food and Drink13.8 History 15.7 Health and14.4 MedicineBiography 11.9 Health and13.7 MedicineTravel 15.4 History 12.2 Health and13.1 MedicineFood and Drink10.1 Health and11.7 MedicineTravel 13.5 Health and13.3 Medicine Health and11.6 MedicineFood and Drink9.4 History 9.6 Food and Drink10.1 Food and Drink9.7 History 8.7 Crafts 6.5 Psychology,5.8 PhilosophyBiography and 8.9 SociologyHistory 8.3 History 8.9 Psychology,7.3 Philosophy and Sociology Sport and Games5.5 Biography 5.7 Psychology,8.1 PhilosophyPsychology, and7.1 PhilosophySociologySport and and Games7.9 SociologyFood and Drink6.7 Business, Economics,5.3 Computing/IT Finance5.2 andCrafts Management 7.0 Crafts 6.7 Crafts 7.1 Sport and Games6.3 Psychology,4.9 PhilosophyCrafts and5.1 SociologySport and Games5.4 Sport and Games6.2 Psychology, 6.7 PhilosophyCrafts and6.2 Sociology Biography 4.8 Sport and Games4.9 Computing/IT 5.2 Computing/IT5.7 Business, Economics,3.9 Business, Finance Economics,5.3 and Management Finance and Management Computing/IT4.4 Business, Economics,4.3 Business, Finance Economics,5.1 andBusiness, Management Finance Economics,5.6 andComputing/IT Management Finance3.9 andComputing/IT Management3.4 Science, Technology,4.0 Science, Engineering Technology,3.7 Science, and Engineering Mathematics Technology,3.0 Literature and Engineering Mathematics 2.6 Literature and Mathematics 2.0 Art 2.8 Art 3.4 Art 3.6 Art 2.4 Science, Technology,2.6 Science, Engineering Technology,2.0 Literature and Engineering Mathematics 2.6 and Mathematics Literature 2.2 Literature 2.9 Literature 2.2 Art 2.4 Art 1.8 Science, Technology,1.6 Engineering and Mathematics Languages 1.3 Languages 1.8 Languages 1.3 Languages 1.9 Languages 0.8 Languages 1.0 Music 1.3 Music 1.2 Religion 1.1 Religion 0.8 Music 0.8 Music 0.8 Religion 1.0 Religion 1.1 Music 1.0 Music 0.6 Religion 0.6 Religion 0.7 DIY 0.7 Law 0.4 Law 0.4 Law 0.2 Law 0.3 Law 0.2 Law 0.2 DIY 0.2 DIY 0.2 DIY 0.1 DIY 0.2 DIY 0.2

Table 4.3. Ranked subjects for Chineham derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year. (Note the subject categories are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2). Colours have been used to highlight the subjects discussed in the text

Overton’s most popular subject was also Biography for 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014- 2015, Travel for 2011-2012 and 2010-2011, and then Health and Medicine in 2009-2010 (see Table 4.4).

Issues as a Percentage of Issues over all 18 Categories in the Year for Overton 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 Health and21.8 MedicineTravel 24.3 Biography 19.7 Biography 23.5 Biography 25.9 Biography 32.5 Travel 20.9 History 16.6 Travel 19.1 Food and Drink12.2 Travel 15.4 Travel 14.5 Food and Drink14.2 Biography 13.9 Food and Drink13.5 Travel 11.5 History 13.8 History 9.3 History 9.3 Health and12.2 MedicineHistory 12.7 History 10.2 Food and Drink11.3 Health and 8.1Medicine Computing/IT5.3 Food and Drink8.8 Computing/IT6.7 Sport and Games7.9 Health and 7.1MedicineFood and Drink7.8 Crafts 4.9 Sport and Games5.1 Health and 6.4MedicineHealth and 7.7MedicinePsychology, 6.1 PhilosophySport and and Games7.5 Sociology Art 4.0 Computing/IT3.4 Sport and Games6.2 Computing/IT 7.0 Sport and Games5.6 Crafts 5.9 Sport and Games4.0 Business, Economics,3.0 Literature Finance 3.9 andPsychology, Management5.9 PhilosophyLiterature and 4.5 SociologyPsychology, 4.9 Philosophy and Sociology Biography 2.7 Crafts 3.0 Psychology,3.9 PhilosophyCrafts and4.3 SociologyComputing/IT 3.6 Literature 3.2 Literature 2.7 Psychology,3.0 PhilosophyCrafts and3.2 SociologyLiterature 3.6 Crafts 3.3 Computing/IT1.5 Music 2.7 Literature 2.4 Art 1.9 Art 2.9 Science, Technology,1.1 Science, Engineering Technology,1.5 and Engineering Mathematics and Mathematics Business, Economics,2.2 Art Finance2.0 andReligion Management 1.3 Business, Economics,1.4 Art Finance0.8 andBusiness, Management Economics,1.0 Finance and Management Science, Technology,2.2 Languages Engineering 1.0 Business, and Mathematics Economics,0.6 Science, Finance Technology,0.9 andBusiness, Management Engineering Economics,0.5 Art and Finance Mathematics0.7 and Management Psychology,1.8 PhilosophyReligion and1.0 SociologyMusic 0.6 Religion 0.5 Religion 0.5 Music 0.7 Religion 1.3 Music 0.3 Law 0.2 Law 0.2 Languages 0.3 Religion 0.6 DIY 0.0 DIY 0.0 DIY 0.0 Music 0.2 Music 0.3 Languages 0.3 Languages 0.0 Law 0.0 Languages 0.0 DIY 0.0 DIY 0.0 DIY 0.0 Law 0.0 Science, Technology,0.0 Science, Engineering Technology,0.0 Languages and Engineering Mathematics 0.0 Law and Mathematics0.0 Law 0.0

Table 4.4. Ranked subjects for Overton derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year. (Note the subject categories are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2). Colours have been used to highlight the subjects discussed in the text

South Ham had the most varied top subjects, ranging from Food and Drink in 2009-2010, then History, Travel for three years, then Biography most recently (see Table 4.5).

Issues as a Percentage of Issues over all 18 Categories in the Year for South Ham 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 Food and Drink16.1 History 19.4 Travel 17.9 Travel 17.0 Travel 17.3 Biography 16.1 History 15.5 Travel 16.4 Food and Drink14.3 Biography 14.8 Biography 17.0 Health and15.1 Medicine Travel 14.7 Food and Drink11.3 History 12.7 History 14.0 Food and Drink12.5 Food and Drink13.3 Health and 9.8MedicineBiography 9.3 Biography 10.8 Food and Drink12.6 Health and12.4 MedicineTravel 12.6 Crafts 7.2 Health and 8.8MedicineHealth and 8.0MedicineHealth and 9.2MedicineCrafts 9.1 History 8.4 Sport and Games6.6 Crafts 6.5 Crafts 7.3 Crafts 6.6 History 7.3 Crafts 6.7 Art 6.6 Psychology,4.8 PhilosophyArt and6.6 SociologyArt 4.9 Psychology,5.1 PhilosophyPsychology, and5.5 PhilosophySociology and Sociology Biography 5.3 Art 4.6 Sport and Games4.9 Psychology, 4.6 PhilosophySport and and Games4.5 SociologySport and Games4.6 Psychology,4.1 PhilosophySport and and Games4.1 SociologyPsychology, 4.2 PhilosophyLiterature and 4.1 SociologyArt 3.5 Business, Economics,4.3 Finance and Management Literature 3.4 Business, Economics,3.8 Computing/IT Finance3.6 andSport Management and Games3.6 Literature 3.3 Art 3.8 Business, Economics,2.8 Science, Finance Technology,3.4 andLiterature Management Engineering 3.6 Computing/IT and Mathematics2.7 Business, Economics,2.6 Literature Finance 3.1 and Management Computing/IT2.8 Literature 2.8 Business, Economics,2.7 Business, Finance Economics,2.3 andComputing/IT Management Finance2.6 andComputing/IT Management2.7 Science, Technology,2.4 Computing/IT Engineering2.5 Science, and Mathematics Technology,1.2 Science, Engineering Technology,1.5 Music and Engineering Mathematics1.0 Science, and Mathematics Technology,1.1 Engineering and Mathematics Music 1.0 Religion 0.9 Languages 0.9 Music 1.3 Science, Technology,0.9 Languages Engineering 0.9 and Mathematics Languages 0.6 Music 0.7 DIY 0.5 Languages 0.4 Languages 0.3 Music 0.8 DIY 0.5 Languages 0.4 Music 0.5 DIY 0.3 DIY 0.2 Religion 0.4 Religion 0.4 DIY 0.2 Religion 0.2 Religion 0.3 Religion 0.2 DIY 0.4 Law 0.1 Law 0.0 Law 0.1 Law 0.0 Law 0.2 Law 0.1

Table 4.5. Ranked subjects for South Ham derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year. (Note the subject categories are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2). Colours have been used to highlight the subjects discussed in the text

In Tadley the most popular subject was Travel each year (see Table 4.6).

Issues as a Percentage of Issues over all 18 Categories in the Year for Tadley 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 Travel 23.4 Travel 23.9 Travel 25.0 Travel 27.3 Travel 25.9 Travel 26.4 Crafts 9.5 Crafts 9.5 Food and Drink9.1 Crafts 9.4 Food and Drink9.5 Biography 10.3 History 8.9 History 7.9 Crafts 8.9 Food and Drink9.0 Crafts 8.9 Food and Drink9.6 Food and Drink8.5 Food and Drink7.4 History 7.2 Biography 8.4 Biography 8.8 Crafts 8.5 Health and 8.1MedicineHealth and 7.0MedicineHealth and 7.2MedicineBusiness, Economics,7.1 Health Finance and 7.4Medicine andHistory Management 7.2 Sport and Games5.1 Sport and Games5.7 Business, Economics,6.8 Health Finance and 6.6Medicine andComputing/IT Management 6.8 Health and 6.0Medicine Business, Economics,4.9 Business, Finance Economics,5.7 andComputing/IT Management Finance6.8 andComputing/IT Management6.2 History 6.5 Computing/IT5.8 Literature 4.9 Biography 5.6 Biography 5.7 History 5.8 Business, Economics,5.0 Business, Finance Economics,5.0 and Management Finance and Management Science, Technology,4.4 Computing/IT Engineering5.1 Sport and and Mathematics Games5.3 Sport and Games4.3 Science, Technology,4.4 Sport Engineeringand Games4.3 and Mathematics Biography 4.4 Science, Technology,5.0 Science, Engineering Technology,4.1 Science, and Engineering Mathematics Technology,3.8 Sport and Engineeringand Mathematics Games3.7 Science, and Mathematics Technology,3.9 Engineering and Mathematics Art 4.3 Art 4.5 Art 3.5 Art 3.2 Art 3.6 Psychology,3.6 Philosophy and Sociology Psychology,4.2 PhilosophyPsychology, and4.3 PhilosophySociologyPsychology, and3.3 PhilosophySociologyPsychology, and2.9 PhilosophySociologyPsychology, and3.0 PhilosophySociologyArt and3.3 Sociology Computing/IT4.1 Literature 3.5 Literature 3.1 Literature 2.8 Literature 2.8 Literature 2.8 Languages 1.6 Languages 1.9 Languages 1.9 Languages 1.3 Languages 1.8 Languages 1.6 Music 1.6 Music 1.3 Music 0.8 Music 0.7 Music 0.6 Religion 0.6 Religion 1.0 Religion 0.7 DIY 0.6 Religion 0.5 Law 0.5 Music 0.5 DIY 0.8 DIY 0.6 Religion 0.4 Law 0.4 Religion 0.5 Law 0.4 Law 0.3 Law 0.3 Law 0.3 DIY 0.4 DIY 0.4 DIY 0.4

Table 4.6. Ranked subjects for Tadley derived from issues as a percentage of total issues across 18 selected categories in each year. (Note the subject categories are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2). Colours have been used to highlight the subjects discussed in the text

The least popular subjects borrowed according to issue totals were DIY and Law in Tadley and Chineham, DIY in Basingstoke and Law in South Ham. Overton’s results were discounted due to negligible holdings in these areas. The least borrowed categories overall were DIY, Law, Music and Religion each year. There was no discernible subject that had decreased in popularity more than any others.

Data on total adult non-fiction issues (that included all categories, not just the designated categories chosen for analysis) for each library for the past six years showed a decrease over time of loans apart from Chineham which had a 9.6% increase in 2014-2015 on the previous year (see Table 4.7). Basingstoke had the largest percentage decrease with non-

30 fiction issues down 13.3% in 2014-2015 from 2013-2014. Overton had the smallest percentage decrease for the last year.

It must be noted that the issue figures fell in Basingstoke in 2010-2011, and there was a corresponding rise for issues in Chineham and South Ham. This was because Basingstoke library was closed for a large proportion of that year for a re-fit and as Chineham and South Ham are the closest libraries to Basingstoke their visitor numbers and consequently issue figures increased for this period. This normalisation of data in Figure 4.1 allows change year on year to be clearly seen without the effect of larger libraries dominating the graph.

% Change of Total Non-fiction Issues by Year Year Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley 2010/2011 -62.0 33.0 -27.6 69.5 -7.0 2011/2012 142.2 -25.7 16.8 -55.1 -9.1 2012/2013 -9.1 -23.9 -14.6 -5.5 -6.8 2013/2014 -11.9 3.0 2.8 -7.1 -3.7 2014/2015 -13.3 9.6 -2.0 -9.0 -6.9

Table 4.7. Percentage change of non-fiction issues by year in each library

Figure 4.1. Line graph showing non-fiction issues by year in each library as a fraction of non-fiction issues in that library in 2009-2010

4.3 Primary Data from Spydus: PEU

Table 4.8 shows the PEU measure for all the case study libraries. The classes were ranked from most over-used to most under-used. The most over-used classes were Languages, then Travel, Computing, Crafts, Food and Drink and Biography and under-used classes were Law and Literature. However, it must be noted that these results were heavily influenced by Basingstoke’s issues, as they comprised 66% of the total figure.

Ranked PEU for All Libraries Subject % of Expected Use Languages 168 Travel 162 Computing/IT 146 Crafts 131 Food and Drink 129 Biography 114 Business, Economics, Finance and Management 111 Health and Medicine 109 Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology 100 DIY 95 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics 89 Music 86 Religion 80 Sport and Games 76 History 71 Art 70 Literature 50 Law 17

Table 4.8. Ranked PEU measure across all five libraries. Colour has been used to highlight over- and under-used categories

The most over-used classes in Basingstoke were Languages followed by Travel (see Table 4.9). In Chineham it was Crafts then Business, Economics, Finance and Management. It was also Crafts first in Overton, then Biography. In South Ham the most over-used class was Computing, followed by Business, Economics, Finance and Management, and in Tadley it was Computing then Travel.

The most under-used classes in Basingstoke were Law and Literature. In Chineham and South Ham it was Literature, then Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Religion and Music were the most under-used in Tadley.

Ranked PEU for All Libraries Basingstoke Chineham South Ham Overton Tadley Languages 196 Crafts 187 Computing/IT 177 Crafts 209 Computing/IT 170 Travel 174 Business, Economics,157 Business, Finance and Economics, Management177 Biography Finance and Management176 Travel 169 Computing/IT 145 Computing/IT 132 Food and Drink 175 Travel 116 Food and Drink 144 Food and Drink 125 Biography 131 Crafts 153 Sport and Games115 Crafts 126 Crafts 121 Psychology, Philosophy128 Health and andSociology Medicine134 Literature 94 DIY 113 Health and Medicine119 Travel 127 Psychology, Philosophy118 Psychology, and Sociology Philosophy 89 Business, and Sociology Economics,100 Finance and Management Biography 110 Languages 97 Biography 111 Food and Drink 84 Languages 97 Business, Economics,108 Health Finance and and Medicine Management93 Travel 90 Music 72 Science, Technology,96 Engineering and Mathematics Psychology, Philosophy103 Food and and Sociology Drink 93 Art 87 Health and Medicine68 Art 92 DIY 101 Art 85 Languages 68 Science, Technology,66 Biography Engineering and Mathematics92 Music 99 Sport and Games 83 DIY 64 Computing/IT 60 Health and Medicine71 Science, Technology,97 Music Engineering and Mathematics77 History 63 History 57 Psychology, Philosophy64 and Sociology Religion 91 History 65 Music 59 Business, Economics,53 Sport Finance and and Games Management 63 Sport and Games 78 Law 64 Sport and Games 56 Religion 46 History 58 History 76 DIY 61 Law 56 Languages 29 Literature 54 Art 63 Religion 53 Religion 50 Art 25 Law 50 Literature 51 Science, Technology,46 Literature Engineering and Mathematics46 DIY 0 Music 42 Law 16 Literature 43 Science, Technology,44 Law Engineering and Mathematics0 Religion 40

Table 4.9. Ranked PEU measure for each of the five libraries. (Note the subject categories are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2). Colour has been used to highlight over- and under-used categories

4.4 Primary Data: Self-Completed Questionnaires

Table 4.10 shows the number of visitors to each library on the morning of sampling, the number of questionnaires handed out, the number of successfully completed questionnaires received, and the number of refusals. The subsequent respondent rates for each library and overall are given.

Number of Visitors/Respondents Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Number of Visitors 164 85 35 35 94 413 Number of Refusals 45 26 12 7 20 110 Number of Questionnaires 119 59 23 28 74 303 Handed out Number of Correctly Completed 96 48 20 26 67 257 Questionnaires Received Back Percentage Sampled / Response 58.5 56.5 57.1 74.3 71.3 62.2 Rate (%)

Table 4.10. Response rate of questionnaires

Bryman (2008) describes Mangione’s classification of response rate bands of postal questionnaires where an over 85% response rate is excellent, 70-85% very good, 60-69% acceptable, 50-59% barely acceptable and below 50% not acceptable. If following this rather strict ruling, three of the libraries’ response rates fall into the barely acceptable bracket (Basingstoke, Chineham and Overton) and two in the very good bracket (South Ham and Tadley), with the overall response rate in the acceptable range.

When analysing the results of the questionnaires it is important to know the size of the data sets as well as the response rate, because some results may be skewed due to a low number of people (for example in Overton and South Ham libraries).

In Basingstoke there was a drop in session for hearing aid repairs on the morning of the survey, and ten of the refusals comprised people who were visiting the library for this reason and who said they were not library users. Likewise, in Chineham library five people refused to participate because they said they were walking through the library to access the Sure Start Centre. Verbal comments received in Tadley library included one person who said “I don’t fill out questionnaires”, two people said “I haven’t got my glasses” and intriguingly one person stated “I don’t use the library”.

Question 5 asked what the main purpose for borrowing non-fiction was and the respondent asked to tick one box. However, some respondents ticked more than one box for this question. This indicated that it was not possible for people to decide on only one reason. If the pilot study had uncovered this behaviour, the question would have been amended to “tick all options that apply”. Where multiple answers have been given, these have still been included, as they represent proportional leaning towards a particular answer.

A few respondents failed to fill in Part B (About You), in which cases the whole questionnaire was disregarded.

4.4.1 The Demographics of Library Users

The percentages of male and female respondents for each library and in total are shown in Table 4.11.

Male Female Ratio (%) Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All libraries Male 42.7 25.0 10.0 42.3 32.8 34.2 Female 57.3 75.0 90.0 57.7 65.7 65.4

Table 4.11. Male to female ratio of respondents for each library and overall

Overton stands out as having predominantly female users, (90%). In actual numbers this equates to 18 women and 2 men. Chineham has three quarters female to one quarter male users, whereas Tadley has one third male to two thirds female. South Ham and Basingstoke both have 57% female. In fact they have almost 10% more male users than the average for the five libraries.

The age distribution of library users is displayed in Table 4.12 for each library and in total, and is shown graphically in Figure 4.2.

Age of Library User (%) Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Under 25 10.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.0 4.7 25-34 10.4 22.9 15.0 7.7 14.9 14.0 35-44 15.6 25.0 30.0 19.2 16.4 19.1 45-54 10.4 8.3 0.0 7.7 7.5 8.2 55-64 11.5 8.3 20.0 11.5 11.9 11.7 65-74 27.1 16.7 30.0 23.1 28.4 25.3 75+ 14.6 20.8 5.0 30.8 16.4 17.1

Table 4.12. Age of library users by library and overall as a percentage of respondents in each library

Figure 4.2. Line graph showing age of library users by library and overall as a percentage of respondents in each library

The age group most represented overall is 65-74, and second highest is age 35-44, displaying a bi-modal distribution. As Figure 4.2 shows, there is a large drop in visitors for the 45-54 age bracket across all libraries although this is less apparent in Basingstoke library. Under 25s are least represented in total, with no respondents in Chineham, Overton or South Ham. Basingstoke has the same percentage of library users for 25-34 and 45-54 age groups, overall displaying a more even spread of respondents for all ages than in the other libraries.

4.4.2 Frequency of Library Use

Frequency of Library Use Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Every Day 6.3 0.0 0.0 11.5 9.0 5.8 Once to twice a week 40.6 31.3 25.0 46.2 40.3 38.1 Fortnightly 18.8 29.2 45.0 15.4 26.9 24.5 Monthly 20.8 29.2 15.0 19.2 17.9 21.0 Less frequently 13.5 10.4 15.0 7.7 6.0 10.5

Table 4.13. Frequency of library use as a percentage of respondents in each library and overall

The most common frequency of visiting libraries in total is once to twice a week (38.1%) (see Table 4.13 and Figure 4.3). For South Ham, 11.5% visit every day, which is the

36 highest percentage for that category of the five libraries. There were no respondents in Chineham or Overton who said they visited every day, and the lowest response for visiting once to twice a week was also Overton (25%).

Figure 4.3. Bar chart showing frequency of library use in each library and overall

4.4.3 Purpose for Visiting Library

Table 4.14 shows that the predominant reason for visiting the library is still to borrow and return books (85.6%). The lowest percentage giving this as a reason was Basingstoke (80.2%), and the highest was Overton (90%). 34.6% of respondents in South Ham said they used the internet in the library, followed closely by Basingstoke (32.3%). The average for internet use overall was 22.2%. 21.8% overall attended an event; there were events taking place in each library during the survey period.

Purpose for Visiting Library (%) Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Borrow/Return Books 80.2 89.6 90.0 88.5 88.1 85.6 Study 19.8 6.3 10.0 15.4 9.0 13.2 Read Newspapers/Magazines 28.1 12.5 10.0 34.6 31.3 25.3 Use Internet 32.3 8.3 5.0 34.6 17.9 22.2 Attend an Event 19.8 27.1 35.0 19.2 17.9 21.8

Table 4.14. Purpose for visiting library (percentage of respondents who ticked each category)

4.4.4 Non-Fiction Borrowing and as a Proportion of Total Borrowing

55.3% of library users overall said they borrowed adult non-fiction books compared with 54.5% borrowing adult fiction (see Table 4.15 and Figure 4.4). Children’s non-fiction borrowing in total was 17.9% as opposed to 29.2% people borrowing children’s fiction. Adult fiction borrowing was greatest in South Ham (61.5%), and lowest in Tadley (49.3%). In Basingstoke adult non-fiction borrowing was the highest (60.4%), closely followed by Overton (60%), and the lowest in Tadley (46.3%). Children’s non-fiction borrowing was lowest in Basingstoke (14.6%), and highest in Overton (25%).

Percentage of Respondents who Borrow Fiction and Non-Fiction Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Adult Fiction 56.3 56.3 50.0 61.5 49.3 54.5 Adult Non-Fiction 60.4 54.2 60.0 57.7 46.3 55.3 Children's Fiction 27.1 37.5 45.0 23.1 23.9 29.2 Children's Non-Fiction 14.6 20.8 25.0 23.1 16.4 17.9

Table 4.15. Percentage of library users who borrow fiction and/or non-fiction books

Figure 4.4. Bar chart showing percentage of library users who borrow fiction and/or non-fiction books

Of the people who said they borrowed books, the total percentage over all libraries of people who borrowed adult non-fiction was 64.5% (see Tables 4.16 and 4.17), but 10% more in Basingstoke (75.3%). The lowest percentage was Tadley at 52.5%. Children’s non-fiction borrowing as a percentage of those who borrowed books was 20.9% overall,

38 with Overton having the highest proportion at 27.8%. Adult fiction borrowing was highest again in Basingstoke (70.1%), and lowest in Overton (55.6%), compared to the average of 63.6%.

Number of People who Borrow Books Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Any Books 77 43 18 23 59 220 Adult Fiction 54 27 10 16 33 140 Adult Non-Fiction 58 26 12 15 31 142 Children's Fiction 26 18 9 6 16 75 Children's Non-Fiction 14 10 5 6 11 46

Table 4.16. Number of people who borrow books in each library and overall

Percentage of Book Borrowers who Borrow by Category Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Adult Fiction 70.1 62.8 55.6 69.6 55.9 63.6 Adult Non-Fiction 75.3 60.5 66.7 65.2 52.5 64.5 Children's Fiction 33.8 41.9 50.0 26.1 27.1 34.1 Children's Non-Fiction 18.2 23.3 27.8 26.1 18.6 20.9

Table 4.17. Percentage of book borrowers borrowing each category by library and overall

4.4.5 Gender Differences in Non-Fiction Borrowing and by Genre

Table 4.18 shows the number of non-fiction borrowers in each library that are male/female and the consequent ratio.

Non-fiction Borrowers by Gender Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Number of Non-fiction Borrowers 58 26 12 15 31 142 Number of Non- Male 29 8 2 8 13 60 fiction Borrowers Female 29 18 10 7 18 82 Percentage of Non- Male (%) 50.0 30.8 16.7 53.3 41.9 42.3 fiction Borrowers Female (%) 50.0 69.2 83.3 46.7 58.1 57.7

Table 4.18. Number of non-fiction borrowers in each library by gender and consequent ratio

Table 4.19 shows the proportion of males and females who borrow non-fiction.

Percentage of Males and Females that Borrow Non-fiction Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Number of Male Respondents 41 12 2 11 22 88 Number of Female Respondents 55 36 18 15 44 168 % of Males that Borrow Non-fiction 70.7 66.7 100.0 72.7 59.1 68.2 % of Females that Borrow Non-fiction 52.7 50.0 55.6 46.7 40.9 48.8

Table 4.19. Proportion of males and females who borrow non-fiction

Table 4.20 depicts the number of respondents by gender selecting different genres of non- fiction across all libraries.

Number of Respondents Borrowing Non-fiction by Category and Gender Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries M F M F M F M F M F M F Art 4 10 0 4 1 0 0 2 3 2 8 18 Biography 5 11 2 7 0 3 3 3 3 5 13 29 Business, Economics, Finance4 and Management1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 7 2 Computing/IT 4 4 1 2 1 1 1 0 4 3 11 10 Crafts 1 6 0 7 0 1 0 6 2 5 3 25 DIY 1 2 0 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 6 7 Food and Drink 1 6 1 6 2 3 1 5 1 10 6 30 Health and Medicine 2 4 0 9 0 5 2 2 2 5 6 25 History 15 14 3 2 1 1 2 3 11 3 32 23 Languages 5 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 2 7 5 Law 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 Literature 5 6 0 2 0 1 0 2 3 3 8 14 Music 2 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 3 1 8 6 Psychology, Philosophy and 4Sociology3 0 1 0 3 1 1 1 1 6 9 Religion 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 3 Science, Technology, Engineering7 and4 Mathematics3 2 1 0 1 1 3 1 15 8 Sport and Games 4 2 1 1 0 0 3 2 1 1 9 6 Travel 11 12 2 6 1 3 1 5 5 8 20 34 True Life Stories 1 7 2 2 0 3 2 4 5 5 10 21 Other 5 5 2 2 0 3 1 3 1 4 9 17

Table 4.20. Number of male and female respondents selecting genres in each library and overall. (Note the subject headings are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2)

Travel, Food and Drink, Biography, Crafts, and Health and Medicine are the top five categories borrowed by women (see Table 4.21 and Figure 4.5). For men the top five categories are History, Travel, STEM, Biography and Computing/IT.

Categories Ranked by Popularity for each Gender Across all Libraries Female Male Travel 34 History 32 Food and Drink 30 Travel 20 Biography 29 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics 15 Crafts 25 Biography 13 Health and Medicine 25 Computing/IT 11 History 23 True Life Stories 10 True Life Stories 21 Sport and Games 9 Art 18 Other 9 Other 17 Art 8 Literature 14 Literature 8 Computing/IT 10 Music 8 Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology 9 Business, Economics, Finance and Management 7 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics 8 Languages 7 DIY 7 DIY 6 Music 6 Food and Drink 6 Sport and Games 6 Health and Medicine 6 Languages 5 Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology 6 Religion 3 Law 4 Business, Economics, Finance and Management 2 Crafts 3 Law 1 Religion 1

Table 4.21. Categories chosen by male and female respondents ranked by popularity over all libraries

Figure 4.5. Bar chart showing numbers of respondents who borrow each subject, broken down by gender

Figure 4.6 shows the same information but as percentages for male and female for each category.

Figure 4.6. Bar chart showing percentages of male and female who borrow each subject

4.4.6 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Age

Table 4.22 and Figure 4.7 show what fraction of respondents who borrowed non-fiction was in each age group, by percentage.

Percentage of Respondents who Borrow Non-fiction by Age Group Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries <25 3.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 6.5 2.8 25-34 1.7 23.1 8.3 0.0 9.7 7.7 35-44 13.8 23.1 25.0 20.0 12.9 16.9 45-54 10.3 15.4 0.0 13.3 9.7 10.6 55-64 15.5 11.5 25.0 13.3 9.7 14.1 65-74 37.9 19.2 33.3 26.7 38.7 33.1 75 and over 17.2 7.7 8.3 26.7 12.9 14.8

Table 4.22. Borrowing of non-fiction broken down by percentage in each age group

Figure 4.7. Bar chart showing fraction of respondents in each age range who borrow non-fiction

The largest percentage of non-fiction borrowers are in the 65-74 year old bracket (33.1%) and the fewest in the under 25 age group (2.8%).

Table 4.23 and Figure 4.8 show of each age group what fraction borrowed non-fiction, by percentage.

Percentage of each Age Group that Borrow Non-fiction Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries <25 20.0 * * * 100.0 33.3 25-34 10.0 54.5 33.3 0.0 30.0 30.6 35-44 53.3 50.0 50.0 60.0 36.4 49.0 45-54 60.0 100.0 * 100.0 60.0 71.4 55-64 81.8 75.0 75.0 66.7 37.5 66.7 65-74 84.6 62.5 66.7 66.7 63.2 72.3 75 and over 71.4 20.0 100.0 50.0 36.4 47.7

Table 4.23. Of each age group what fraction borrowed non-fiction, by percentage. An asterisk indicates that there were no respondents in this age category.

Figure 4.8. Bar chart showing of each age group what percentage borrow non-fiction

72.3% of 65-74 year olds borrow non-fiction compared with 30.6% of 25-34 year olds.

Figure 4.9. Line graph showing the percentage of each age group who borrow non- fiction

Figure 4.9 shows the percentage of each age group who borrow non-fiction and Figure 4.10 shows the percentage of each subject borrowed by each age range.

Figure 4.10. Bar chart showing percentage of each subject borrowed by each age range

Due to the low number of respondents in the under 25 age bracket it is difficult to discern much of a pattern of preferred subjects. In the 25-34 age group the top subject borrowed is Health and Medicine. Crafts is most popular for 35-44 year olds, and Food and Drink and Travel are joint top in the 45-54 year bracket. History, Travel and Biography are in the top three for 55-64 and 65-74 year olds, with History and Biography remaining first and second for age 75 and over except Travel books are replaced by True Life Stories.

4.4.7 Non-Fiction Borrowing by TEA

More than half of respondents finished their education post 19 years old (see Table 4.24). Three quarters of people in Overton were in this category, with South Ham having the lowest percentage (42.3%). Chineham had the lowest percentage of people having left education at 16 or under (8.3%), and Tadley the highest (25.4%). Only Basingstoke and South Ham had respondents still studying at 6.3% and 7.7% respectively. Not surprisingly these statistics are comparable with those respondents who identified themselves as students in the work status question (Basingstoke 7.3% and South Ham 7.7%).

Terminal Age of Education (%) Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries 16 or Under 22.9 8.3 10.0 23.1 25.4 19.8 17-18 21.9 18.8 15.0 19.2 19.4 19.8 19+ 43.8 68.8 75.0 42.3 52.2 52.9 Still Studying 6.3 0.0 0.0 7.7 0.0 3.1 Studying Part-Time 3.1 2.1 0.0 0.0 1.5 1.9

Table 4.24. TEA of respondents by percentage for each library and overall

When subjects are ranked in popularity for each grouping of TEA (see Table 4.25), it can be seen that History is in the top two for those who finished education at 16 and under, 17-18 and over 19. Food and Drink is third and fourth popular for TEA 17-18 and over 19 compared with joint 11th for TEA 16 and under. Apart from this observation, there is not an overall marked difference between the types of books borrowed when TEA is taken into account.

Non-fiction Categories Ranked by Popularity for each TEA 16 or Under 17-18 19+ Still Studying Part time Travel 9 History 12 History 32 Art 3 Health and Medicine3 History 8 Biography 11 Travel 32 Science, Technology,3 Psychology, Engineering Philosophy3 and Mathematics and Sociology True Life Stories8 Food and Drink9 Biography 22 Biography 2 Literature 2 Biography 6 Health and Medicine9 Food and Drink21 Crafts 2 Travel 2 Health and Medicine4 Travel 8 Crafts 18 Food and Drink2 Biography 1 Art 3 Computing/IT7 Art 17 History 2 Crafts 1 Business, Economics,3 Other Finance and6 ManagementTrue Life Stories16 Languages 2 DIY 1 Crafts 3 Crafts 4 Other 16 Literature 2 Food and Drink1 Sport and Games3 True Life Stories4 Science, Technology,15 Sport Engineering and Games2 andHistory Mathematics1 Other 3 Art 3 Health and Medicine13 Travel 2 Languages 1 Computing/IT2 Literature 3 Literature 12 Computing/IT1 Science, Technology,1 Engineering and Mathematics Food and Drink2 Sport and Games3 Computing/IT11 DIY 1 Sport and Games1 Literature 2 Psychology, Philosophy2 Music and Sociology11 Health and Medicine1 True Life Stories1 Music 2 Science, Technology,2 Psychology, Engineering Philosophy9 andPsychology, Mathematics and Sociology Philosophy1 Art and Sociology0 Science, Technology,2 DIY Engineering1 andDIY Mathematics8 Religion 1 Business, Economics,0 Finance and Management DIY 1 Languages 1 Languages 7 True Life Stories1 Computing/IT0 Languages 1 Law 1 Business, Economics,6 Business, Finance Economics, and0 ManagementLaw Finance and0 Management Law 0 Music 1 Sport and Games5 Law 0 Music 0 Psychology, Philosophy0 Religion and Sociology1 Law 4 Music 0 Religion 0 Religion 0 Business, Economics,0 Religion Finance and2 ManagementOther 0 Other 0

Table 4.25. Non-fiction categories ranked by popularity for each TEA. (Note the subject categories are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2)

4.4.8 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Work Status

Table 4.26 shows the composition of the respondents in each library by work status, and Figure 4.11 shows the same data graphically. 48.2% of respondents overall are retired. This forms the greatest category for Basingstoke, Chineham and Tadley libraries. If the supposition is made that all over 65s are retired, cross referencing this result with the age group findings (65 plus formed 42.4% respondents) this suggests that at least 5.8% of under 65s are also retired. The lowest percentage of employed (23.1%) and highest proportion of students (7.7%) were at South Ham. The highest percentage employed was at Chineham (47.9%).

The “other” category formed a fifth of respondents at Tadley and Overton libraries. In Overton, this comprised three stay-at-home Mums and two self-employed people. In Tadley four described themselves as unemployed, two carers, one long-term sick, three stay-at-home parents, two housewives, one at home and one on maternity leave. Overall, 40 people placed themselves in the “other” category. 28% were stay-at-home parents, 20% unemployed, 13% self-employed and 8% on maternity leave.

Work Status (%) Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Employed 34.4 47.9 45.0 23.1 25.4 34.2 Student 7.3 2.1 0.0 7.7 1.5 4.3 Retired 49.0 41.7 35.0 57.7 52.2 48.2 Other 10.4 14.6 20.0 15.4 20.9 15.2

Table 4.26. Work status of all respondents, by percentage

Figure 4.11. Bar chart showing percentage of respondents in each library for each work status group

Over half (52.8%) of non-fiction borrowers (see Table 4.27) overall are retired, therefore a greater proportion of retired people borrow non-fiction than for other work statuses. These figures corroborate the fact that the largest fraction of age group that use non- fiction are 65-74 year olds (see Section 4.4.6). The proportion of employed people borrowing non-fiction is almost the same as the proportion of employed people that are library users. Students only comprise 3.5% of people borrowing non-fiction.

Percentage of Non-fiction Borrowers by Work Status Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Employed 29.3 57.7 41.7 33.3 25.8 35.2 Student 5.2 3.8 0.0 6.7 0.0 3.5 Retired 62.1 30.8 33.3 60.0 58.1 52.8 Other 5.2 19.2 25.0 6.7 19.4 12.7

Table 4.27. Non-fiction borrowers by work status as a percentage of non-fiction borrowers

4.4.9 Reasons for Borrowing Non-Fiction

Table 4.28 and Figure 4.12 show the reasons for borrowing non-fiction. Respondents were asked to select multiple reasons where applicable. The most popular reason for borrowing non-fiction was for pleasure, cited by 52.8% of respondents, and the second most popular purpose was for practical information. The least selected reason was for a

48 job. In Tadley, Chineham and Overton libraries practical information was most frequently given as the purpose for borrowing non-fiction, and in South Ham and Basingstoke it was for pleasure.

Reasons for Borrowing Non-fiction (% of Non-fiction Borrowers) Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Practical Information 31.0 50.0 66.7 40.0 67.7 46.5 Pleasure 55.2 46.2 58.3 60.0 48.4 52.8 Personal Growth/Personal Learning 36.2 34.6 16.7 26.7 29.0 31.7 Education/Course of Study 15.5 15.4 25.0 13.3 6.5 14.1 Hobby 19.0 30.8 0.0 26.7 22.6 21.1 Job 1.7 11.5 0.0 6.7 0.0 3.5 Other 3.4 3.8 0.0 6.7 6.5 4.2

Table 4.28. Reasons for borrowing non-fiction

Figure 4.12. Pie chart showing relative popularity of reasons for borrowing non-fiction

4.4.10 Ranking of Subjects Borrowed by Popularity

Question 4 asked which subjects were borrowed (if adult non-fiction was ticked in Question 3). Table 4.29 shows the number of respondents who ticked each category in each library and the total for all libraries. Figure 4.13 and Figure 4.14 show this information as bar charts for each library, and for all libraries.

Number of Respondents Borrowing each Category in each Library Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Art 14 4 1 2 5 26 Biography 16 9 3 6 8 42 Business, Economics, Finance and Management 5 2 1 1 0 9 Computing/IT 8 3 2 1 7 21 Crafts 7 7 1 6 7 28 DIY 3 2 2 2 4 13 Food and Drink 7 7 5 6 11 36 Health and Medicine 6 9 5 4 7 31 History 29 5 2 5 14 55 Languages 6 2 0 1 3 12 Law 2 3 0 0 0 5 Literature 11 2 1 2 6 22 Music 5 3 1 1 4 14 Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology 7 1 3 2 2 15 Religion 2 0 1 1 0 4 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics 11 5 1 2 4 23 Sport and Games 6 2 0 5 2 15 Travel 23 8 4 6 13 54 True Life Stories 8 4 3 6 10 31 Other 10 4 3 4 5 26

Table 4.29. Number of respondents who ticked each category in each library and the total for all libraries

Figure 4.13. Bar chart showing numbers of respondents who ticked each category in each library

Figure 4.14. Bar chart showing total number of respondents who ticked each category for all libraries

Table 4.30 shows the categories ranked in popularity for all libraries. History is most popular, followed by Travel, Biography, Food and Drink, and Health and Medicine and True Life Stories joint sixth. The least popular subject to borrow is Religion, and then Law.

Categories Borrowed Ranked by Overall Popularity Category Number of Respondents History 55 Travel 54 Biography 42 Food and Drink 36 True Life Stories 31 Health and Medicine 31 Crafts 28 Other 26 Art 26 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics 23 Literature 22 Computing/IT 21 Sport and Games 15 Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology 15 Music 14 DIY 13 Languages 12 Business, Economics, Finance and Management 9 Law 5 Religion 4

Table 4.30. Categories ranked by popularity for all libraries

Table 4.31 shows the subjects ranked by popularity in each of the libraries.

In Basingstoke the most popular subject is History, followed by Travel, Biography, Art, Literature and STEM. Following the result for all libraries, the two least popular subjects are Religion and Law.

Biography is most popular in Chineham, alongside Health and Medicine, followed by Travel, Crafts and Food and Drink. Once more Religion is least popular (selected by no one), and Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology only chosen by one person.

In Overton, the top six subjects are Food and Drink, Health and Medicine, Travel, Biography, Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology, and True Life Stories. Least favourite are Languages, Law, and Sport and Games.

Law is the least popular category in South Ham. Biography, Crafts, Food and Drink, Travel and True Life Stories are all equally most common subjects to borrow.

History, Travel, Food and Drink, True Life Stories and Biography are the most popular non-fiction genres in Tadley. Least favourite areas are Business, Economics, Finance and Management, Law and Religion.

Categories Ranked by Popularity for each Library Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley History 29 Biography 9 Food and Drink5 Biography 6 History 14 Travel 23 Health and Medicine9 Health and Medicine5 Crafts 6 Travel 13 Biography 16 Travel 8 Travel 4 Food and Drink6 Food and Drink11 Art 14 Crafts 7 Biography 3 Travel 6 True Life Stories10 Literature 11 Food and Drink7 Psychology, Philosophy3 True Life and Stories Sociology6 Biography 8 Science, Technology,11 History Engineering5 andTrue Mathematics Life Stories3 History 5 Computing/IT7 Other 10 Science, Technology,5 Other Engineering3 andSport Mathematics and Games5 Crafts 7 Computing/IT8 Art 4 Computing/IT2 Health and Medicine4 Health and Medicine7 True Life Stories8 True Life Stories4 DIY 2 Other 4 Literature 6 Crafts 7 Other 4 History 2 Art 2 Art 5 Food and Drink7 Computing/IT3 Art 1 DIY 2 Other 5 Psychology, Philosophy7 Law and Sociology3 Business, Economics,1 Literature Finance and2 ManagementDIY 4 Health and Medicine6 Music 3 Crafts 1 Psychology, Philosophy2 Music and Sociology4 Languages 6 Business, Economics,2 Literature Finance and1 ManagementScience, Technology,2 Science, Engineering Technology,4 and Mathematics Engineering and Mathematics Sport and Games6 DIY 2 Music 1 Business, Economics,1 Languages Finance and3 Management Business, Economics,5 Languages Finance and2 ManagementReligion 1 Computing/IT1 Psychology, Philosophy2 and Sociology Music 5 Literature 2 Science, Technology,1 Languages Engineering1 andSport Mathematics and Games2 DIY 3 Sport and Games2 Languages 0 Music 1 Business, Economics,0 Finance and Management Law 2 Psychology, Philosophy1 Law and Sociology0 Religion 1 Law 0 Religion 2 Religion 0 Sport and Games0 Law 0 Religion 0

Table 4.31. Ranking of subjects in each library by popularity (Note the subject headings are truncated, for the full titles see Table 3.2)

4.4.11 Internet Use

Question 6 asks if the internet is used to search for information (either at home or in the library) to see whether this affects the extent to which people still borrow non-fiction (see Table 4.32 and Figure 4.15).

Percentage who use the Internet to Search for Information Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries 90.6 93.8 80.0 84.6 88.1 89.1

Table 4.32. Percentage of respondents who use the internet in each library and overall

Internet use is lowest among the Overton respondents (80%) and highest in Chineham respondents (93.8%). Of the people who said they borrowed non-fiction books, Overton’s

53 response was above average, and Chineham’s below average (see Table 4.14), which suggests a correlation between use of internet and decreased non-fiction borrowing.

Figure 4.15. Bar chart showing percentage of respondents across all libraries who use the internet

Table 4.33 and Figure 4.16 show a trend of internet use rising for ages 25-44, dipping for all libraries’ respondents at 45-54, then increasing between 55 and 74, then decreasing for 75 and over. As this trend is comparable with the age range of library users (see Figure 4.2), caution should be used as the statistics are probably being dominated by this factor. It is more useful to consider what fraction of each age category uses the internet. The results are in Table 4.34.

Age Breakdown of Respondents who use the Internet (%) Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Under 25 10.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.4 4.8 25-34 11.5 24.4 12.5 9.1 15.3 14.8 35-44 17.2 24.4 25.0 22.7 13.6 18.8 45-54 10.3 8.9 0.0 9.1 8.5 8.7 55-64 12.6 8.9 25.0 13.6 13.6 13.1 65-74 28.7 17.8 37.5 22.7 30.5 27.1 75 and over 9.2 17.8 0.0 22.7 13.6 12.7

Table 4.33. The age breakdown of respondents who use the internet

Figure 4.16. Line graph showing age breakdown of library users who use the internet

Percentage of each Age Group that use the Internet Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries <25 90.0 * * * 100.0 91.7 25-34 100.0 100.0 66.7 100.0 90.0 94.4 35-44 100.0 91.7 66.7 100.0 72.7 87.8 45-54 90.0 100.0 * 100.0 100.0 95.2 55-64 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 65-74 96.2 100.0 100.0 83.3 94.7 95.4 75 and over 57.1 80.0 0.0 62.5 72.7 65.9

Table 4.34. Percentage of each age category that use the internet. An asterisk indicates that there were no respondents in this age category.

Here it can be seen that 100% of 55-64 year olds said they used the internet compared with only 65.9% of over 75s. The next lowest proportion of people using the internet is in the 35-44 age bracket.

The fraction of each age group that use the internet can be compared with the fraction in each age range that borrow non-fiction (see Table 4.23). It might be assumed that a higher fraction of each age group using the internet to search for information would result in a lower fraction borrowing non-fiction and vice versa. However, Table 4.23 shows that the lowest fraction borrowing non-fiction is 25-34 year olds, but the fraction of that cohort who uses the internet is not the highest, only joint 4th. The highest fraction borrowing

55 non-fiction within an age range is 65-74 year olds, but this also equates to the second greatest fraction using the internet.

4.4.12 Non-Fiction Book Buying versus Non-Fiction Book Borrowing

Question 7 asks if people buy non-fiction books, to see if there is a correlation between borrowing non-fiction books and book buying (see Table 4.35).

Percentage of Respondents who Buy Non-fiction Books Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries Percentage who buy Non-Fiction 66.7 62.5 45.0 57.7 55.2 60.3 Bookshop 51.0 47.9 20.0 34.6 28.4 40.5 Online 39.6 54.2 45.0 38.5 29.9 40.1 Supermarket 9.4 16.7 0.0 23.1 9.0 11.3 Other 7.3 2.1 0.0 3.8 6.0 5.1

Table 4.35. Percentage of library users who buy non-fiction books and where

The percentage of total respondents who said they bought non-fiction books is highest in Basingstoke (66.7%) and lowest in Overton (45%). People bought books almost equally between bookshops and online (40.5% and 40.1%) respectively. However, within Basingstoke people said they bought from a bookshop more than online (51% to 39.6%). This is in contrast to Overton, where more people bought their non-fiction online (45%) than in bookshops (20%).

The most popular subjects bought were Food and Drink, followed by History, Travel, Biography and Crafts (see Table 4.36, Figure 4.17 and Figure 4.18). Least popular were Law and Religion. The top four subjects also correspond to the top four subjects borrowed, although in a different order (History is most popular, followed by Travel, Biography and Food and Drink) (see Table 4.30, Figure 4.13 and Figure 4.14). The two least popular subjects borrowed are also the same as bought.

Figure 4.17. Bar chart showing subjects bought by respondents in each library

Figure 4.18. Bar chart showing subjects bought by respondents totalled for all libraries

Categories Bought Ranked by Overall Popularity Category Number of Respondents Food and Drink 61 History 52 Travel 50 Biography 36 Crafts 35 True Life Stories 31 Art 27 Literature 24 Computing/IT 21 Other 21 Health and Medicine 18 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics 18 Music 16 Sport and Games 15 DIY 14 Languages 12 Business, Economics, Finance and Management 11 Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology 11 Religion 9 Law 5

Table 4.36. Number of people who bought subjects, ranked by popularity

Question 9 asks for respondents to tick all the options that apply as to why non-fiction is not bought (see Table 4.37). The most popular reason was “will read only once”, followed by “expensive to buy”. “I use the internet instead” is cited by 26.5%.

Reasons for not Buying Non-fiction as a Percentage of those did not Buy Non-fiction Basingstoke Chineham Overton South Ham Tadley All Libraries I do not read Non-Fiction books 18.8 38.9 9.1 0.0 23.3 20.6 Expensive to buy 34.4 55.6 27.3 36.4 20.0 33.3 Will read only once 43.8 44.4 45.5 18.2 30.0 37.3 Not sure it would be useful 18.8 5.6 0.0 9.1 20.0 13.7 No room to keep 15.6 33.3 18.2 9.1 16.7 18.6 I never buy books 9.4 11.1 9.1 9.1 3.3 7.8 Out of Print/not available 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 I use the internet instead 18.8 38.9 27.3 18.2 30.0 26.5 Other 3.1 5.6 9.1 9.1 3.3 4.9

Table 4.37. Reasons for not buying non-fiction as a percentage of those who said they did not buy non-fiction

4.4.13 Opinions on Non-Fiction Provision

Question 10 asked if there were any suggestions regarding the non-fiction section in the particular library the respondent was visiting. 42 comments were received, 20 from Basingstoke (representing 48% of respondents), one from Overton (2% of respondents), one from South Ham (2% of respondents), nine from Chineham (21% of respondents) and 11 from Tadley (26% of respondents). These are presented in Appendix C.

The responses were coded into distinct groups, which comprised positive feedback (13 responses), negative feedback (6 responses), subject based (13 responses), and other (10 responses).

Unsurprisingly 31% of comments were very particular to an individual’s subject interest, where there was a request for more books on that topic.

One respondent from Basingstoke and one from Tadley commented on the display of books by topic:

“Theme weeks where displays feature that topic – but I think you already do this?” (Respondent T70)

“more themed non-fiction displays near checkout terminals – I have explored several new topics as a result of previous displays”. (Respondent B110) A particularly interesting comment pertained to the usefulness of print when technology fails:

“can be useful if computers offline so please retain” (Respondent T51) 4.5 Secondary Data from CIPFA Public Library Statistics

Adult non-fiction issues in the UK have been steadily decreasing over time; total adult non-fiction issues for 2009-2010 were 69,962,158 compared with 51,087,684 in 2013- 2014 (Loughborough University, 2015b) which is a decrease of 26.9%. The fraction of adult non-fiction books issues to total book issues has also reduced; in 2009-2010 non- fiction issues comprised 22.6% of total book issues, whereas in 2013-2014 this figure was 20.7%.

However, the “CIPFAstats” public library profile for Hampshire available for 2012-2013 (CIPFA, 2013) showed that adult non-fiction issues per 1,000 population were slightly above the national average. The breakdown of total book issues (adult fiction, adult non- fiction, children’s fiction and children’s non-fiction) per 1,000 population by percentage showed 20.5% of issues in Hampshire comprised non-fiction issues, compared with the national average of 19.5%. Adult fiction issues were lower than the national average, at 41.5% compared with 43.5%. The stock turn (the average number of times a book was issued during a year) for adult non-fiction was 3.3, compared with a national average of 2.9.

4.6 Secondary Data from Active Borrowers Research Analysis

The Active Borrowers Research Analysis shows variation in the types of people who use each library when classed by socio-demographic factors. The “Mosaic Types” are shown in Appendix D. The top five Mosaic types are most similar for Basingstoke and Chineham libraries. South Ham’s primary type “Solid Economy” is the same as Basingstoke. Overton has three different types in the top five: “Satellite Settlers”, “Outlying Seniors” and “Village Retirement” which is not surprising as Overton library is in a rural village location. Tadley library also has three unique types in the top five: “Wealthy Landowners”, “Mid-Career Convention” and “Family Ties”. The catchment of this library comprises rural hamlets as well as Tadley town itself.

4.7 Secondary Data from Internal Reports for North Hampshire Libraries

A user survey conducted in 1986 for Tadley library (Hampshire Libraries and Information Service, 1986) showed that 38.6% of visitors were male, and 61.4% were female. One fifth of users were over 65. Of the respondents who ticked non-fiction, they were asked which type of books they preferred to borrow. The most popular subject was Biography (16.4%), followed by Travel (12.3%), Crafts and Hobbies (10.4%), History (7.3%), and then Cookery (6.1%). Of the subjects common to the categories chosen for the 2015 questionnaire, the least favourite were Music (1%), Languages (1.5%), DIY (2.1%) and Health and Medicine (2.3%).

Non-fiction issues and total book issues, and non-fiction stockholdings and total book stockholdings information was available for 1995-1996 (Hampshire Libraries and

Information Service, 1996). Physical stock count figures were available for 2012-2013 for the five libraries, so non-fiction issues and total book issues for the same year were used as a comparison for the 1995-1996 data. Table 4.38 shows non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues, and non-fiction stock as a percentage of total stock for each library, for 1995-1996 and 2012-2013. Table 4.39 shows the ratio of stock and issues between 2012 and 1995.

Non-fiction Issues as a Non-fiction Stock as a Percentage of Total Issues Percentage of Total Book Stock 1995/6 2012/13 1995/6 2012/13 Basingstoke 39.7 19.1 43.3 45.6 Chineham 20.4 10.5 28.8 27.9 Overton 16.4 9.1 22.1 15.9 South Ham 17.5 9.5 23.8 23.8 Tadley 31.1 14 36.7 28.8 Total 32.2 15.6 37.1 38.3

Table 4.38. Non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues, and non-fiction stock as a percentage of total stock for each library, for 1995-1996 and 2012-2013

Issue figures for 1995 to 1996 for Basingstoke showed that non-fiction comprised 39.7% of total book issues and non-fiction stock constituted 43.3% of the total stock. Chineham’s non-fiction issues were 20.4% of total issues, and non-fiction holdings comprised 28.8% of total stock. In South Ham, non-fiction issues comprised 17.4% of total issues, and non-fiction stock consisted of 23.8% of the total. Overton’s non-fiction issues were 16.4% of the total issues, and the non-fiction stock constituted 22% of the total stock. In Tadley, non-fiction issues were 31% of the total issues, and the stock comprised 36.7% of the total stock.

2012 as Percentage of 1995 Issues Stock Basingstoke 48.1 105.2 Chineham 51.3 96.8 Overton 55.6 72.2 South Ham 54.6 99.8 Tadley 45.2 78.5 Total 48.6 103.3

Table 4.39. 2012-2013 data as a fraction of the 1995-1996 data

Figure 4.19 shows there is a correlation between non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues and non-fiction stock as a percentage of stock for 1995-1996.

45.0 2 40.0 y = 0.0101x + 0.4686x + 0.1452 R² = 0.9956 35.0

30.0 25.0 20.0 TotalIsues 15.0

10.0

fictionIssues Percentage as of -

5.0 Non 0.0 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 Non-fiction Stock as Percentage of Total Stock

Figure 4.19. Scatter plot graph showing non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues against non-fiction stock as a percentage of stock, 1995-1996. A second order polynomial fit to the data is also shown

Figure 4.20 shows there is also a correlation between non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues and non-fiction stock as a percentage of total stock.

25.0

20.0 y = 0.4067x + 0.7548

R² = 0.9494

15.0

10.0 TotalIssues

5.0

fictionIssues Percentage as of -

Non 0.0 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 Non-fiction Stock as Percentage of Total Stock

Figure 4.20. Scatter plot graph showing non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues against non-fiction stock as a percentage of stock, 2012-2013. A linear fit to the data is also shown

4.8 Conclusion

This chapter presented the data collected via Spydus and self-completed questionnaires by means of tables, pie charts, line graphs, bar charts, scatter plots and corresponding explanation. The secondary data assembled allowed the primary data to be put in context. Chapter 5 will provide a comparison of all this information with previous studies outlined in Chapter 2 (Literature Review), and discuss reasons for the results and outline trends.

Chapter 5: Findings and Discussion

5.1 Introduction

The previous chapter detailed the results derived from stock and issue figures from Spydus for each case study library, the outcome of the self-completion questionnaires undertaken in each location, and the description of secondary data compiled from CIPFA and Hampshire internal research and reports.

These results will now be compared with previous research undertaken in a similar way as detailed in Chapter 2 (Literature Review) to determine any changes over time. Firstly circulation data issue trends are analysed, followed by a discussion of the PEU results. The self-completion questionnaire results are examined thematically. The first few themes are contextual, looking at who the library users are, and what behaviours they exhibit. Subsequent themes address non-fiction borrowing compared to a range of different variables including those information seeking behaviours that may affect non- fiction borrowing such as buying non-fiction or using the internet. Three types of secondary data are examined, CIPFA data, Active Borrowers Research Analysis and internal reports from North Hampshire libraries. Finally, variations between the case study libraries and the future for non-fiction in public libraries are discussed.

5.2 Primary Data from Spydus: Circulation Data Trends

There was a clear indication that the least popular subjects (DIY, Law, Music and Religion) were consistently unpopular over time, and the most popular category (Travel) was continuing to increase in popularity (see Table 4.1). There was a surge in Biography issues over the six year period. The change in popularity of certain subjects may be due to a change in reading habits, or a reflection of changes in publishing which impacts on stock holdings, for example the increase in publication of celebrity biographies.

Figure 4.1 showed non-fiction issues by year as a fraction of non-fiction issues in 2009- 2010, depicting a downward trend. It could be assumed that fewer non-fiction books should be purchased, but this would further exacerbate declining issues. Instead, resources should be more carefully allocated towards those subjects that are increasing in popularity. The PEU data in section 5.3 permits identification of these subjects, thus complementing the issue figures.

5.3 Primary Data from Spydus: PEU

The most popular subjects when ranked by percentage of expected use in the Westminster study were Computers (166%) and Language (147%) (Smith, 1999a). The primary data collection showed Language first (168%), then Travel (161%) and Computing (146%) (see Table 4.1). If Travel is discounted as it was not a well borrowed subject in Westminster libraries, there is a very close correlation between the most over-used subjects borrowed in 1998 and 2015. When the least popular subjects are analysed by this method, Literature was the most under-used subject in Westminster (46%), and in North Hampshire was second at 50%. It is interesting that these results are so similar, suggesting a commonality in relative stock holdings and user behaviour not only between libraries but also over a 25 year period. For North Hampshire, Law was most under-used with 17% of expected use which is not surprising as it also was the least borrowed subject as shown by issue figures, and the least popular subject ranked in the questionnaires. This is an area where books are often updated and published updated annually, so it is likely the stock is out of date, and therefore not borrowed. This could be an area to stop purchasing altogether.

Despite Language issues being fairly low across all libraries when compared to other subjects, it appeared that the items were extremely well used, therefore suggesting more titles should be purchased to satisfy demand. However, as most Language items comprise books and CDs, this is an expensive area to develop.

The other subjects that were identified as over-used and therefore should be targeted for increased stock acquisition (as explained in section 3.4) for Basingstoke were Travel, Computing, Crafts and Food and Drink (see Table 4.2). For Chineham the subjects were Crafts, Business, Economics, Finance and Management, Computing, Biography, Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology, and Travel (see Table 4.3). In Overton, over-used subjects were Crafts, Biography, Travel, Sport and Games (see Table 4.4). South Ham’s over-used subjects were Computing, Business, Economics, Finance and Management, Food and Drink, Crafts and Health and Medicine (see Table 4.5). For Tadley the subjects were Computing, Travel, Food and Drink and Crafts (see Table 4.6).

5.4 Primary data: Self-Completed Questionnaires

5.4.1 Demographics of Library Users

Male to female ratios have remained steady over the past 30 years; on average one third men to two thirds women use public libraries (see Section 2.4.1 and Table 4.11).

The age profile of library users is shown to have changed; the proportion of older people has increased overall. For example, the Tadley library user survey in 1986 reported that one fifth of respondents were over 65. The “Libraries and the Consumer” report for 1994 to 1996 showed over 65s comprised a quarter of the total library users (BML, 1997). In 2015, the Tadley library questionnaire showed that 44.8% were over 65, and over the five libraries 42.4% of respondents were over 65. However, as questionnaires were not handed to under 18s and were distributed mid-week this data should be regarded with some caution.

5.4.2 Frequency of Library Use

The North Hampshire study showed the most popular frequency of visits to public libraries were in the once to twice a week bracket (38.1%) (see Table 4.13 and Figure 4.3). In 1986 in Tadley library visiting weekly was most prevalent (29.8%) but still 10% lower than today. 9% of respondents in 2015 reported visiting every day, compared with 2.6% in 1986. This suggests the public library is of more importance to a proportion of the population than before. However, although these results can be compared as the sampling method was the same, Smith (1999b) noted that library surveys conducted over a short time exaggerate the frequency of use, as a minority of frequent library users form a disproportionately large part of the sample.

5.4.3 Purpose for Visiting Library

Contemporary libraries offer more services than 30 years ago, due to the introduction of the internet for the public, and increased running of events such as children’s activities and reading groups. This transition from book repository to more of a community space means that people have more variety of reasons to visit, and this is reflected in the extra options given in the questionnaire compared with previous surveys. Despite this, 85.6% of all respondents still said they visited the library to borrow or return books in 2015 (see Table 4.14) compared with 83.9% of respondents in 1986 for the Tadley library user

66 survey (see section 2.4.3). This figure was 89.8% in the East Anglia survey in 1980 (Smith, 1980). The Overton results particularly stood out with 90% of respondents borrowing or returning books, which suggests that library use remains traditional among rural areas and within the older population. In contrast, internet use within libraries seemed to have more importance in urban areas, with 32.3% of Basingstoke respondents and 34.6% of South Ham respondents citing internet use as a reason for visiting the library (see Table 4.14).

5.4.4 Non-Fiction Borrowing and as a Proportion of Total Borrowing

The percentage of library users who borrowed non-fiction and the percentage which used fiction books were almost identical in the 2015 research (55.3% and 54.5% respectively) (see Table 4.15 and Figure 4.4). Interestingly this equality between fiction and non-fiction borrowing has remained constant over time, with the “Libraries and the Consumer 1994- 1996” report, the “Household Library Use Survey 1998” and the Sandwell and Hounslow study in 1994 all showing the percentage of people borrowing non-fiction and borrowing fiction were very similar (see section 2.4.4). However, the “Libraries and the Consumer 1994-1996” report showed that 87% of library users overall were borrowing non-fiction and 84% were borrowing fiction. This decrease from 87% to 55.3% over the past 25 years for non-fiction borrowing could be attributed to library users accessing information via the internet, either in the library or elsewhere.

5.4.5 Gender Differences in Non-Fiction Borrowing and by Genre

42.3% of non-fiction borrowers overall in North Hampshire libraries were male, and 57.7% female (see Table 4.18). However, this statistic was affected by the differing number of male and female respondents. When instead it was considered what fraction of males and what fraction of females used non-fiction it was found that males were more likely to borrow non-fiction than females (68.2% of male library users compared with 48.8% of female library users) (see Table 4.19). The Venn diagram (see Figure 5.1) represents this phenomenon, whereby a larger fraction of men are borrowing non-fiction than women, but there are more women borrowers overall.

Respondents

Male Female

Non-fiction Borrowers

Figure 5.1. Venn diagram showing the fraction of male and female non-fiction borrowing as a proportion of total male and female respondents

Table 4.18 shows the percentage of male to female non-fiction borrowers was evenly split in Basingstoke, but most different in Overton where there was a much smaller respondent sample. 70.7% of the male respondents in Basingstoke borrowed non-fiction and in Overton this was 100% (both of the men!). Chineham, South Ham and Tadley all followed the same trend of proportionately more males than females borrowing non- fiction.

When borrowing specific genres of non-fiction, there were clear differences in who borrowed what by gender. As some studies focused on this aspect, it was considered pertinent to ascertain what the current situation is for comparison. However, as the whole concept of gender is fluid today compared to social norms 30 years ago, asking if someone is male or female could be considered irrelevant. Additionally, the relevance of exploring gender stereotypes that exist for genre borrowing to inform stock purchasing is debatable; it could be the use of subjects relative to the whole collection that dictates where acquisition should lie.

In 1997 69% of True Life stories were borrowed by women (BML, 1997). The primary data collection corroborated this, with 67.7% of True Life stories borrowed by women (percentage calculated from data in Table 4.20). Only 27% of Food and Drink books were borrowed by men in 1997 (BML, 1997). It might have been expected that due to the prevalence, and therefore influence, of male “celebrity chefs” over the past 20 years that there would be an increase in men borrowing Food and Drink books. In fact, Food and Drink books were only borrowed by 16.7% of men in the 2015 study (percentage calculated from data in Table 4.20).

Science, History and Sport books were borrowed predominantly by men (over 70%) in 1999 (Timperley and Spiller, 1999) and for these subjects the primary data showed they were still on average borrowed more by men, but there was less contrast (science 65.2% men, history 58.2% men, and sport 60% men). In 1999 subjects borrowed more by women (over 60%) included Religion, Health, Craft and DIY (Timperley and Spiller, 1999). In 2015, the results show an increased gender divide, with 70% of Religion, 80% of Health and 89.3% of Craft books borrowed by women, the exception being DIY where women comprised 53.8% of the borrowing.

When the subjects borrowed were ranked in popularity by gender for the North Hampshire study the top subject borrowed by women was Travel and the top subject for men was History (see Table 4.21). Common subjects between both genders in the top five categories were Travel, and Biography books. If more non-fiction borrowing is to be encouraged, it would make sense to target the subject areas that are borrowed mostly by men and women.

5.4.6 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Age

The primary data collection showed the largest percentage of non-fiction borrowers were in the 65-74 year range (33.1%), and when included over 75s was 47.9%, and the lowest in the under 25 bracket (2.8%) (see Table 4.22). This is contradictory to the results of research by Timperley and Spiller (1999) where only 18% of the respondents returning non-fiction were in the over 65 group, and the Books and the Consumer report where 19% of non-fiction borrowers were over 65 (BML, 1997). These figures are dependent on the overall proportional age of library users, therefore the fraction of each age group that use non-fiction was also analysed (see Table 4.23). The highest proportion was still the 65-74 year olds. However, the age group who borrowed non-fiction least were 25-34 years, at 30.6%. This range was 41.7%, which is contrary to the view of Hawkins, Morris and Sumsion (2001) that use by age was more even than sometimes supposed. If older people (born before 1950) are more likely to borrow non-fiction books, it could be surmised that as they pass away, non-fiction issues will continue to decline. Alternatively, it may be that as people get older, they are more likely to borrow non-fiction books, in which case this scenario will not occur.

Biography, History and Travel books had higher than average age profiles in 1994 to 1996 (BML, 1997). This was still the case in 2015, with the same three subjects the most

69 popular for 55-64 year olds, and 65-74 year olds (see Figure 4.10). For over 75s, True Life has replaced Travel books in the top three. This could be because fewer holidays are taken due to ill health, thus reducing the need to borrow Travel books. 50% of the over 75s borrowed books on Religion which suggests that later in life an interest in spirituality is more common. The primary data collection showed Health and Medicine was most popular for 25-34 year olds, Craft most popular for 35-44 year olds, and Food and Drink and Travel most popular for 45-55 year olds.

5.4.7 Non-Fiction Borrowing by TEA

History and travel were more likely to be borrowed by people with a higher TEA according to Hawkins, Morris and Sumsion (2001). This did not match the 2015 results, which found History books were in the two top most borrowed categories regardless of TEA (see Table 4.25). Hawkins, Morris and Sumsion (2001) also reported that those with a lower TEA preferred True Life books. This is inconsistent with the primary data, where those with the highest TEA (19 plus) were most represented for borrowing True Life stories. However, this could partly be due to more respondents overall borrowing non- fiction who finished their education post 19 years old (52.9%) compared with 19.8% who finished their education at 16 or under.

5.4.8 Non-Fiction Borrowing by Work Status

The largest group at 48.2% of respondents over all five libraries was the retired, 34.2% were employed, and 4.14% were students (see Table 4.26). The percentage of retired people who borrowed non-fiction was 52.8% (see Table 4.27). Timperley and Spiller (1999) reported 28% of people returning non-fiction books were retired. 44% were employed, 15% were students, 4% were unemployed, 5% were home and family carers. 8.8% fewer non-fiction borrowers were employed in the 2015 study, and there were 11.5% fewer students. As it is not known what the profile of library users overall in the Timperley and Spiller study was, it is hard to conclude why there is a difference between the work status profiles of users borrowing non-fiction in each study. They did however compare the age of their non-fiction respondents with CIPFA Plus data for 1997, and ascertained they had a much smaller proportion of over 65 users (18% compared to 27%), and correspondingly larger proportions of all other age groups (Timperley and Spiller, 1999).

5.4.9 Reasons for Borrowing Non-Fiction

People are borrowing non-fiction in 2015 primarily for the same reasons as they were 20 years before. The primary data collection showed that for pleasure was the most cited purpose for borrowing non-fiction (52.8% of respondents) (see Table 4.28). This was also the most frequent reason given (by 58% non-fiction borrowers) in the Books and the Consumer 1994-1996 report (BML, 1997). For pleasure was the second most cited reason in the Bedford, Hinckley and Rugby investigation (Morris, Hawkins and Sumsion, 2001). This suggests that books still retain the same value for users, despite emergence of the internet as an alternative source of information.

In contrast, only 13.8% respondents reported for pleasure was a purpose for borrowing in the East Midlands study, with practical purposes the most popular reason (Timperley and Spiller, 1999). This was also the case in the Westminster libraries study, where the most heavily used titles and popular subjects in any area were practical in type (Smith, 1999a). 46.5% of respondents in 2015 said they borrowed non-fiction for practical purposes which was the second most frequent reason given. This was also the second favourite reason given in the Books and the Consumer 1994-1996 report (BML, 1997).

Further similarities between the 2015 data and previous results exist with the number of respondents citing “for job” as a purpose for borrowing non-fiction. Only 3.5% gave this as a reason in 2015, compared with 5% in 1998 (Timperley and Spiller, 1999), and 10% in 2000 (Morris, Hawkins and Sumsion, 2001). This is the lowest selected reason in each study. Morris, Hawkins and Sumsion (2001) suggested that work use tends to be concentrated at very large libraries, however, as only 1.7% of Basingstoke non-fiction borrowers gave job as a reason, this is not substantiated.

5.4.10 Ranking of Subjects Borrowed by Popularity

The study by Smith (1999a) for Westminster libraries showed stock categories ranked by order of popularity. Computing books were most popular, followed by Law and the least popular subjects were Literature and Nature. In contrast, issue data for North Hampshire in 2014-2015 showed Travel was most popular, followed by Biography, and the least popular categories were DIY and Law (see Table 4.1). Travel was only 15th in the ranking in the Westminster libraries. It is possible that this difference in subject popularity is due to disparate library user groups rather than a change in borrowing habits over time;

Westminster is likely to have more people employed in Law than North Hampshire. The results from the 2015 questionnaires showed that History was most popular to be borrowed, followed by Travel and Biography, and the least popular subjects were Religion and Law (see Table 4.30). Biography books were ranked 27th in the Westminster study.

5.4.11 Internet Use

It might be expected that increased internet use would affect non-fiction borrowing adversely. When the overall percentage of people using the internet in each library in North Hampshire is compared with the percentage of people borrowing non-fiction, this appears to be true (see Tables 4.17 and 4.32). However, when internet use and non-fiction use is broken down by age group, the correlation is not so clear (see Tables 4.23 and 4.34). For example, the highest fraction borrowing non-fiction within an age range is 65 to 74 year olds, which represent the second highest fraction of internet users. Conversely, the lowest fraction age group borrowing non-fiction is 25-34 year olds, but the fraction using the internet is only joint 4th, not the highest. These results indicate that it is the volume of information seeking that varies most between ages, rather than the method of information seeking.

5.4.12 Non-Fiction Book Buying versus Non-Fiction Book Borrowing

60% of the respondents of the questionnaire said they bought non-fiction books, which is 5% more than the percentage of respondents who borrowed adult non-fiction books (see Table 4.35). However, it cannot be discerned if these people constitute the same people that are borrowing non-fiction books.

More books were bought in bookshops than online where there were bookshops in the local vicinity of the library; 51% of library users who bought non-fiction books in Basingstoke (where there is a bookshop locally) purchased in a physical bookshop compared with 39.6% online. The situation was reversed in Overton (where there is no bookshop), where 45% bought non-fiction online and 20% from bookshops. The primary data showed that the subjects bought and borrowed were related; the top four subjects borrowed equated to the top four subjects bought, and the two least borrowed subjects also corresponded to the least bought. Food and Drink was the favourite subject bought.

In 1994-1996, the leading non-fiction subject in terms of those borrowing and buying was also Food and Drink, bought by 44% of those who borrowed that genre (BML, 1997).

The most popular reason given for not buying non-fiction books in 2015 was “will read only once”, followed by “expensive to buy” (see Table 4.37). These were also the top two reasons given in the Bedford, Hinckley and Rugby study of 2000 (Morris, Hawkins and Sumsion, 2001). However, an additional option was included in the 2015 questionnaire “I use the internet instead”. This was cited by 26.5% of respondents and was the third most popular reason for not buying non-fiction books. It could be surmised that this reason would magnify in importance over time as internet penetration rates increase.

5.4.13 Opinions on Non-Fiction Provision

Proportionally more comments relating to suggestions for the respective non-fiction sections were received from the largest library, followed by the medium sized libraries and then fewest comments from the smallest. This would suggest that the larger the provision of a service, the more people value or have an opinion on that service. The importance of marketing the non-fiction sections was highlighted by comments about displays on particular topics. Keeping the stock current was also a concern. The majority of comments were positive or constructive, rather than negative.

5.5 Secondary Data from CIPFA Public Library Statistics

The reasons for the slight predominance of non-fiction borrowing for Hampshire as a proportion of total issues is unclear, but it could be due to a higher than average adult non-fiction stock holding as a percentage of total book stock (33.5% compared with 30.8% national average). This might be a consequence of a higher level of non-fiction stock acquisition. The greater availability of non-fiction stock then results in higher borrowing figures.

The decrease of the selected genres of non-fiction in the case study libraries was 26.0% compared with the national average of 26.9%.

5.6 Secondary Data from Active Borrowers Research Analysis

Attempting to correlate the assigned types of borrowers in each library with the type of subjects issued is subjective. However, it could be assumed that the prevalence of Biography borrowing in Overton is due to its more mature population. The dominance of Travel book borrowing in Tadley library could be because the library’s catchment area comprises affluent families who travel frequently.

5.7 Secondary Data from Internal Reports for North Hampshire Libraries

The 1995-1996 figures demonstrated that libraries with more non-fiction stock as a percentage of total stock had proportionately more non-fiction issues as a percentage of total issues thus showing a correlation between the two variables (see section 4.7). This is also true in 2012-2013, which suggests that more stock results in more issues.

However, the comparative data for 1995-1996 and 2012-2013 showed that non-fiction issues as a percentage of total book issues had halved, although non-fiction stock as a percentage of overall book stock had actually increased from 37.1% to 38.3%. Stock levels must therefore not be the only factor leading to issues.

5.8 Variations between the Case Study Libraries

The five libraries were chosen for comparison purposes, to investigate if there were differences in who was borrowing non-fiction and what subject areas were borrowed.

Contextual information about library users showed that more women than men visited libraries, but the larger the library, the proportion of men to women was more equal. There was also a more even distribution of age range in the largest library compared with the smallest. The frequency of library use obviously was affected by the number of days a library was open, but overall people who use libraries use them a lot as the most common frequency was once to twice a week. Borrowing and returning books was the most cited reason for visiting in all the libraries, yet attending an event was given as a purpose by the biggest proportion of people in the smallest library. Running events can therefore be seen as crucial for the continued viability of small libraries by attracting users.

The size of library is not a factor when the amount of non-fiction borrowing as a percentage of library use is analysed, as in Basingstoke and Overton the results were the same (60%). However, when the proportion of people who borrowed non-fiction books as a percentage of those who said they borrowed or returned books was analysed, the result was slightly different – in Basingstoke it was 10% more than the average over the five libraries, and in Overton 1% more than average. Across all libraries proportionately more men borrow non-fiction than women.

Subject use as indicated by Spydus issue figures showed that in 2014-2015 Travel was most popular for Basingstoke and Tadley and Biography was top for Chineham, Overton and South Ham. Survey responses gave History as the most popular subject for Basingstoke and Tadley, Biography for Chineham and South Ham, and Food and Drink and Health and Medicine for Overton. Size and location of library therefore has no impact on genre popularity. The similarity of Basingstoke and Tadley library’s non-fiction borrowing patterns by genre cannot be explained by a closely matching demographic breakdown of the profile of library users as they are quite different (as shown in section 4.5).

5.9 The Future for Non-Fiction Books in Public Libraries

It is likely that the downward trend in non-fiction issues will continue, with the result that fewer books will be purchased by libraries. Less choice will therefore cause fewer issues and possibly create a need for more reservations between libraries and inter-library loans between library authorities. Fewer resources will mean that non-fiction acquisition will have to be more carefully targeted to satisfy the information needs of the specific users of individual libraries. There will be an increased reliance on reference subscriptions (as a cost saving measure) through the internet in libraries as a substitute for physical books.

5.10 Conclusion

This chapter discussed the primary research presented in chapter 4 in the context of the previous research outlined in chapter 2. The next and final chapter will present the conclusions drawn by this dissertation.

Chapter 6: Conclusion

6.1 Introduction

The previous chapter discussed the primary research in the context of the previous research outlined in the Literature Review (Chapter 2). This chapter will summarise the dissertation, by examining how far the aims and objectives were met and by evaluating the main points of each chapter. Finally suggestions for further research will be presented.

6.2 Research Purpose, Aims and Objectives

The research purpose was to investigate the current situation concerning non-fiction books in UK public libraries. The aims were to discover who was borrowing non-fiction, which subjects, and why. Improvements to stock collection management policy on non- fiction acquisition were to be enabled. The following objectives were chosen to achieve these aims:

 To investigate the breakdown of library users by demographics such as age, gender, TEA, and work status to place non-fiction usage in context  To analyse library user behaviour such as frequency and purpose of visit for frame of reference  To analyse non-fiction book buying and use of the internet, to determine if these activities are impacting on non-fiction borrowing

6.3 Literature Review

The literature search showed no in-depth investigation of non-fiction borrowing trends in UK public libraries since around 2001. In the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s two main strands of research were identified; data collected by official bodies such as BML and BL, and research undertaken by individuals from universities. Common themes were the demographics of non-fiction borrowers, frequency of library use, purpose for visiting the library, non-fiction borrowing as a proportion of total borrowing and gender differences in non-fiction borrowing. Authors also explored reasons for borrowing non-fiction and subjects borrowed, non-fiction book buying versus non-fiction book borrowing, reasons for overall trends in book borrowing (to place non-fiction borrowing in context) and opinions on non-fiction provision.

6.4 Methodology

A case study approach was used, with five different sized libraries in North Hampshire compared. Quantitative data was gathered from user questionnaires in each library and circulation data from Spydus, which was compared with historical data from HCC and statistics from CIPFA. The response rate from the questionnaires ranged from 56.6% to 74.3% for individual libraries, with an average of 62.2% overall which was acceptable. Due to more visitors in the larger libraries (and therefore a larger volume of respondents) the results are biased towards the behaviours and demographics of those users. However, gathering the same number of respondents in each library would have reduced the comparability of sample between the libraries. As only library users were sampled, the opinion on non-fiction books from non-library users is not represented.

6.5 Findings

The overall fraction of the UK population using libraries has decreased, with a corresponding decline in book issues including non-fiction issues. The number of non- fiction issues as a proportion of total borrowing has declined in the case study libraries by half over a 20 year period. CIPFA UK statistics show the fraction of adult non-fiction issues to total book issues has reduced by 1.9% from 2009/2010 to 2013/2014.

In common with the literature, the male to female ratio of library users remains one third to two thirds. However, males are more likely to borrow non-fiction than women. Gender differences in specific genre borrowing remain as clear in 2015 as was demonstrated 20 years before. The largest percentage of non-fiction borrowers are over 65 and retired.

There are well used subject areas common across all five libraries on which to focus new book acquisition, and areas where usage is not high where spending should be restricted.

Internet use does not necessarily lead to people borrowing less non-fiction, in fact, the statistics show that people who use the internet are also more likely to borrow non-fiction books.

Likewise non-fiction book buying appears to complement non-fiction book borrowing rather than replace it. People tend to buy and borrow the same subjects, and reasons for borrowing books are the same as 20 years ago.

6.6 Suggestions for Further Research

It would be interesting to analyse non-fiction borrowing in the context of newly evolved community libraries, to see if there is a difference in users’ behaviour and perceptions compared with those in traditionally managed (council run) public libraries. The study could also be replicated in five and ten years’ time to determine what impact public library closures and cuts in book funds have on non-fiction borrowing. It would be informative to carry out the study over a larger geographical area (for instance the rest of Hampshire), or replicated in a different county, for comparison purposes.

6.7 Conclusion

This research presented an overview of non-fiction use in the public libraries of North Hampshire, and succeeded in demonstrating who is borrowing non-fiction, what is borrowed, and why. While non-fiction issues are decreasing, it would be overly simplistic to assume that internet usage is superseding a need for non-fiction books. The value of this dissertation is that it provides a unique contemporary view on non-fiction in public libraries in the UK.

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Appendix A: User questionnaire

Use of Public Libraries in North Hampshire Survey

This questionnaire forms part of the research for a Master's degree dissertation at Aberystwyth University. The aim of the survey is to explore use of Non-Fiction (Information) books and acquisition of information within North Hampshire libraries. All the responses given in this survey will be treated with confidentiality and your anonymity will be preserved. All data gathered in this survey will be destroyed on completion of the dissertation. By completing this survey, you give consent for the answers and data provided to be used for the research process.

Part A Library Use

Q1 How often have you visited a library in the past year? (Please tick ONE box) Every Day o Once to twice a week o Fortnightly o Monthly o Less frequently o

Q2 What do you do when you visit a library? (Please tick ALL options that apply) Borrow/Return Books o Study o Read Newspapers/magazines o Use Internet o Attend an event, eg. reading group, children's storytime o

Q3 If you ticked Borrow/Return Books please continue, otherwise go to Q6 What type of books do you prefer to borrow (Please tick ALL options that apply) Adult Fiction o Adult Non-Fiction o Children's Fiction o Children's Non-Fiction o

Q4 If you ticked Adult Non-Fiction please continue, otherwise go to Q6 What subjects do you borrow? (Please tick ALL options that apply) Art o Biography o Business, Economics, Finance and Management o Computing/IT o Crafts o DIY o Food and Drink o Health and Medicine o History o Languages o Law o Literature o Music o Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology o Religion o Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics o Sport and Games o Travel o True Life Stories o Other (Please specify)

Q5 What is your main purpose in borrowing Non-Fiction? (Please tick ONE box) Practical Information o Pleasure o Personal Growth/Personal Learning o Education/Course of Study o Hobby o Job o Other (Please Specify) page 1

Q6 Do you use the internet (at home or in the library) to search for information? (Please tick ONE box) Yes o No o

Q7 Do you buy Non-Fiction books? (Please tick ONE box) Yes o No o

If Yes, please continue. If No, go to Q9 Where do you buy them? (Please tick ALL options that apply) Bookshop o Online o Supermarket o Other (Please specify) Q8 What subjects do you buy? (Please tick ALL options that apply) Art o Biography o Business, Economics, Finance and Management o Computing/IT o Crafts o DIY o Food and Drink o Health and Medicine o History o Languages o Law o Literature o Music o Psychology, Philosophy and Sociology o Religion o Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics o Sport and Games o Travel o True Life Stories o Other (Please Specify) Please go to Q10 Q9 What are the reasons you do not buy Non-Fiction books? (Please tick ALL options that apply) I do not read Non-Fiction bookso Expensive to buy o Will read only once o Not sure it would be useful o No room to keep o I never buy books o Out of Print/not available o I use the internet instead o Other (Please Specify) Q10 Do you have any suggestions regarding the Non-Fiction section in this library? (Please use the space below to provide your answer)

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Part B About You

Q11 What is your gender? (Please tick ONE box that applies to you) Male o Female o

Q12 How old are you? (Please tick ONE box that applies to you)

Under 25 o 25-34 o 35-44 o 45-54 o 55-64 o 65-74 o 75 and over o

Q13 What is your work status? (Please tick ALL options that apply) Employed o Student o Retired o

Other (Please specify)

Q14 At what age did you finish your education? (Please tick ONE box)

16 or under o 17-18 o 19+ o Still studying o Studying Part-Time o

Thank you for taking the time to fill in this survey. Please place in the box provided.

Appendix B: Letter to Obtain Informed Consent

Catherine Randewich

24th May 2015 Hampshire County Council Three Minsters House 76 High Street Winchester SO23 8UL

Re: Permission to carry out research on the public libraries of North Hampshire

Dear

I am a library assistant at Tadley Library, and have been studying for an MSc in Information and Library Studies (distance learning, self-funded) from Aberystwyth University since April 2013.

As part of the requirement for the degree I need to undertake a dissertation with a research basis. My dissertation title is entitled “Non-fiction in Public Libraries: with reference to North Hampshire”. My dissertation proposal has been accepted by the Information Studies Department and I have been allocated a supervisor.

I am therefore writing to you as Group Manager of CCRA to seek your permission to conduct research within Hampshire Libraries to enable me to successfully complete my dissertation. My aims are to investigate the information seeking behaviour of library users regarding non-fiction books in the digital age, and to discover to what extent different subject areas are borrowed. My objective is to be able to inform stock collection management policy on non-fiction acquisition and maintenance in public libraries.

The research will comprise analysis of circulation data (stock and issues) from Spydus, and collection of data from paper-based questionnaires completed by users at the libraries at Tadley, Chineham, Basingstoke, South Ham and Overton. All the information will be

86 anonymised, and no personal details will be disclosed. I will adhere to the Hampshire County Council and Aberystwyth University Ethical policy and guidelines on data collection and record management.

I would be grateful for permission to be granted and I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Catherine Randewich (BA Hons)

Appendix C: Answers to Question 10 from the Questionnaire

Colour coded responses. Red = negative comment, Blue = subject related comment, Green = positive comment, uncategorised comments (other) = blank. Respondent reference numbers were generated using the initial letter of the library where the questionnaire was handed out and an incremental number.

Comments Received from Question 10 Respondent Comment Overton is a small library and there is limited choice. Would be good to O16 have a wider selection. S23 More up to date travel books T57 Please expand!! As it is a small library the Nonfiction section is OK. I can always reserve T37 books if necessary if not in section. T32 I would like to suggest having more non-fictional history books T66 More books on music from 1970's Themes weeks where displays feature that topic- but I think you may T70 already do this? T11 I would appreciate more on- Travel (Scotland), Science and Medical No, I think the library is fine.. Very worthwhile- I would be lost without it.. T58 I use reference books at the library. T10 Always receive excellent assistance T51 Can be useful if computers are off line so please retain T60 Bigger 'Political Section' Unless I need to research a subject there is no reason for me to read a non- T75 fiction book as I prefer to "escape" and chill when I read. C1 Please keep providing Motor Car magazines C6 Can't give any comment as I mainly borrow children's books. C54 The areas I use are very good I would like to see more history books relating to earlier than modern C57 history. Larger range of photography books C56 Chineham is a well stocked friendly library Not really used it. I normally search in the online catalogue and order an C41 item for collection rather than browsing in the library C34 Greater choice C46 Better classification would help C43 More science and engineering books please!

Prefer more art/literature music based. Library tends to stock sport and B52 politics

The non-fiction section in Basingstoke library is excellent. Books easy to B90 locate and well stocked. The staff are always willing to help if requested. Keep books filed properly by dewey decimal no when returning them to shelves and check that users have filed them properly too as I have poor B16 sight it is difficult to have to check I think the non-fiction section in the Basingstoke library is very good, well B91 stocked, and in no need of change B113 Nope. I've never really been to the section B45 More books on subjects such as psychology and philosophy B114 More new books. More science books More themed non-fiction displays near checkout terminals- I have B110 explored several new topics as a result of previous displays B94 Books are easily found and staff are very helpful I would like to see a wider range of books by war correspondants eg. Robert Fisk, Patrick Coburn, John Simpson and more than one copy of each B56 book. Also more CDs of their works. B60 More material about childfree life B51 It's just what's needed B28 Celebrities I've been using this library- fiction and non-fiction- since 1988, as a 14 year old. It has always been one of the better libraries (outside London) in the B15 South- East of England B120 Well stocked shelves Make them more accesable. Have topic displays, workshops (free) like B37 children morning sesions. Get rid of the pink colours on the wall. B38 Newer titles! B29 Keep the books updated

I don't usually look at all the non-fiction books. The art section is great and I don't see need for the improvement. I have read all your books about B116 video games (which are quite out dated) so would like to see more. I have found the 'Network' between the various Discovery centres in Hampshire particularly useful, during my various researches into Military B95 history.

Appendix D: Mosaic Types

Top five mosaic types for each library. Key features of each type are on page 91.

Basingstoke Chineham 1 Solid Economy 1 Alpha Families 2 Primary Ambitions 2 Contemporary Starts 3 Alpha Families 3 Modern Parents 4 Modern Parents 4 Solid Economy 5 Contemporary Starts 5 Primary Ambitions Overton South Ham 1 Satellite Settlers 1 Solid Economy 2 Outlying Seniors 2 Modern Parents 3 Alpha Families 3 Empty-Nest Adventure 4 Village Retirement 4 Primary Ambitions 5 Contemporary Starts 5 Offspring Overspill Tadley 1 Wealthy Landowners 2 Mid-Career Convention 3 Alpha Families 4 Empty-Nest Adventure 5 Family Ties

Mosaic Type Key Features Stable families with children renting better quality homes from Solid Economy social landlords Forward-thinking younger families who sought affordable homes Primary Ambitions in good suburbs which they may now be outgrowing High-achieving families living fast-track lives, advancing careers, Alpha Families finances and their school-age kids' development Busy couples in modern detached homes juggling the demands of Modern Parents school-age children and careers Fashion-conscious young singles and partners setting up home in Contemporary Starts developments attractive to their peers Mature households living in expanding developments around Satellite Settlers larger villages and with good transport links Pensioners living in inexpensive housing in out of the way Outlying Seniors locations Retirees enjoying pleasant village locations with amenities to Village Retirement service their social and practical needs Mature couples in comfortable detached houses who have the Empty-Nest Adventure means to enjoy their empty-nest status Lower income owners whose adult children are still striving to gain Offspring Overspill independence meaning space is limited Prosperous owners of country houses including the rural upper Wealthy Landowners class, successful farmers and second-home owners Professional families with children in traditional mid-range Mid-Career Convention suburbs where neighbours are often older Active families with teens and adult children whose prolonged Family Ties support is eating up household resources